Lost and Found
by Butane Koala Bear
Summary: Elle Holloway knew that something was wrong in Shepherd's Glen, but with the help of her best friend Alex, she uncovers a more painful truth.
1. Running

**Hey guys, this is my first ever fan fic. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**I made a couple of changes to the plot to make it work better, so it's about 80% faithful to Silent Hill Homecoming.**

**Flashbacks are in italics. And Author's notes are in Bold!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or anything related to it.**

**I admit this chapter is slow, but I promise it does speed up lots in the next few chapters.**

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* * *

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Fog sterilised the streets of life.

The sickly snow shower of ash was falling upon the concrete. And as usual Elle Holloway was stapling more missing person's posters to the notice board, which was already saturated in them. She stood on her tip toes on top of a foldaway chair, struggling to stay balanced.

"Why didn't I leave when I had the chance, I could've been sipping tequila in Mexico by now!" she thought to herself, stapling through the decaying wood.

She thought of Alex. He was her best friend. And she hadn't seen for years. He turned up today out of the blue, telling her that he was searching for his brother Josh, and not her. Life was a bitch she thought. Crash! She fell of the chair.

"Oww! Why do I even try anymore?" Elle grumble to herself as she got back to her feet.

Life was bleak. She had seen only a handful of people in the past few months. Everyone seemed to be disappearing and she was powerless to stop it. She lay in bed some nights, thinking to herself what was happening, she pinched herself every night, hoping that it was a dream, and that she was still alive. But it wasn't a dream, she was living the nightmare.

She sometimes sat in Nora's untouched room; that gave her the strength to carry on. Her own dear little sister Nora had disappeared 2 years ago, no one knew how. Or even more upsetting was that no one seemed to care besides Elle. Even their mother was too buried in her work to care much anymore. Elle prayed that Nora was alive, she imagined her alone, praying to be found. Nora was the only person who kept Elle going through the constant pointless haze that her life had evolved into.

Well there was one more person who kept her going. Alex Shepherd. Nearly all of her happy memories in her 20 years of life had him involved somehow. Best friends since they were children. Incredibly close but complete physical opposites; Alex was the type of guy who would get 5 o'clock shadow 5 minutes after shaving! He was all man; dark, tanned, strapping, imposing, quiet and laidback.

Elle on the other hand was the type of girl who little girls would mistake as fairytale princess; blonde, pale, willowy, fragile, bubbly and quite neurotic. She thought about Alex all the time, what he was doing, what was he like now, and most of all was he thinking of her as well. She cried every day for 2 months when he left to join the army without saying a proper goodbye. They had done everything together and helped each other through bad times. But now he treated her like a stranger.

Elle carefully climbed back onto the foldable metal chair, she only had one poster left to put up. She doubted anyone would look at this board, it was actually really difficult to, seeing that it was crammed full of posters, of people. Happy, smiling people. Elle doubted she would last much longer herself, she'd vanish, and by then she doubted that they would be anyone left to miss her.

Just as she stapled the last poster on the board, Crash! She fell off the chair again. Alex was right, she always was a klutz.

* * *

_Elle was jumping for joy in her kitchen, it was the deep of winter, and Shepherd's Glen had a massive snow storm all through the night. School was definitely off. Her mother rushed covered in snow._

_"Still home? It's 10:00! Work was cancelled; I have to work from my office today. Nora's already out in the snow. Why don't you go out? I need peace and quiet!" Margaret Holloway commanded._

_Elle would have probably argued back at her mother, but by now she kind of accepted that her mother was a workaholic and control freak, the snow had definitely put a dampener on her order, so Elle could almost see why she would be stressed out._

_"I'll get my winter stuff now." Elle ran upstairs. _

_She ripped her room apart searching for her new gloves, when suddenly a snowball bashed against her window. Elle ran to the window and slid it open, ice cold air buffeted her face. Alex was sat on a sled outside her house._

"_Elle...It's the first snow in this town since we were 3. Sledding?" Alex shouted up anxiously._

"_Alex, I'll be there now, my mom's just making me bring everything I need to hike Everest!" Elle replied as she hopped out of her house, while putting on her winter boots._

_She looked at her surroundings. Absolutely everything was smothered in a thick sheet of white powdery snow. The trees and mountains looked breathtaking, like something from a postcard from Alps. She made her way to Alex; the snow engulfing her legs with its icy embrace._

"_You look...g" Alex stammered._

_Elle giggled to herself. Trust Alex, he was probably the shyest person in all of Shepherds Glen, and she still loved him for it. The hormones could've been cut with a knife._

"_Let's go then Action Man, race you!" Elle loved calling him Action Man, because of his need for adventuring she told him, and his chiselled good looks (what she didn't tell him)._

"_Who came 2nd in the regional long distance running championships, not you?" He had already overtaken her and lay on the hilltop on his brother's sled; his parents refused to buy him one._

"_Ok, how about we go down together first" Elle said._

"_If th...th...that's ok with you." Alex replied; he still spoke with a stutter sometimes when he was nervous._

_Elle climbed in first, then he did; his muscular legs squished against her hips, her head rested against his chest. He radiated heat, he was always warm. They pushed themselves off and went flying down the hill, they carried on accelerating. Elle struggled to reach the breaks, but her false nails couldn't reach them in time, and they went crashing into a bush. Elle was on top of Alex._

"_Now you wonder why I call you a klutz, klutz."_

"_I'm so sorry Alex, I think you bruised your chest, I'm not exactly a light weight" Elle said as she lifted up his coat (any excuse to see his chest), expecting to see solid abs, but instead seeing big islands of bruises and cuts around his torso._

_"Stop it! You had no right!" Alex yelled as he pushed her away, in anger, Elle had rarely seen him angry. Her heart sunk and her throat tightened. She knew Alex's father emotionally neglected Alex, and worshipped Alex's younger brother Josh, but she never knew that he was this bad. Now she understood why Alex covered his body at all times._

_Alex started to run off._

_"Alex! Don't go, stay please." She begged. She felt disgusted at herself for what she did._

_He turned around and began walking back to her, struggling to hold back tears himself, "You happy now? You saw what Dad does when he's mad."_

"_Alex, if he does this to you, why haven't you told anyone? I'll tell my mom."_

"_I have, they either call me a liar, or ignore me, because they don't think Adam Shepherd would abuse his son! Your mom is great and all, but she isn't super woman."_

_Elle thought hard, she was in a hopeless position, she couldn't do anything at the moment to stop Adam Shepherd's abuse of his son, she felt like huddling into a corner and dying, no 14 year old deserved what Alex got, least of all him._

_"Alex, just please stay out for a few more hours." Elle pleaded. He responded by walking into her and hugging her tightly. She couldn't stop Adam from making his life a misery, but at least she could keep Alex happy whenever she could._

_

* * *

_

Elle decided to go home; she had put up all the posters. And as usual there was nothing else to do. Shepherd's Glen was a boring dump before everything starting going to hell.

It was in the middle of nowhere. She nagged her parents for years to move somewhere with more life, but they always dismissed her. She wanted to live somewhere animate and lively, but instead she was stuck in Shepherd's Glen. A prisoner. Immense constant loneliness and isolation smashed through her heart like a hatchet. She was a sociable person, she needed companionship, she wanted someone to talk to and someone to hold in her arms. And here, she had none of them.

"Maybe I could have Alex. We could escape together; we could start a life somewhere new... Forget it Elle! He forgot you!" In her loneliness, she was reduced to talking to herself. At least she would listen, unlike her mother.

"For 2 years I dreamt that he was going to return and that we would finally be together, and now he has returned, he's too engrossed searching for that brat to even acknowledge who I am!"

She kicked a nearby mailbox in frustration, it smashed to the floor, vibrations rumbled through her leg. She was never usually unreasonably angry, but it did irritate her that she cared for Alex more than any of his family did, and yet he seemed to be solely focused on finding his brother. That was why she had to forget him for now.

Abrupt footsteps rattled through the dense grey fog. It was her mother.

"I wondered where you were. You look a little... scared. Have you seen Alex yet? He's back." Margaret Holloway said.

"Yeah, I did about 2 hours ago. Was he in a rush with you? He just seemed to want to search for his brother." Elle sighed.

"He seemed like he wanted to speak to you." Margaret replied.

"Well, I didn't get that impression!" Elle growled.

"I think he's just a little busy. Why don't you go and search for him. You're looking for Nora, he's looking for Josh. Maybe you could work together? Get to know each other again. Hate to run, but I've got more work to do." Margaret suggested, but her suggestions were usually more of a command.

Elle thought deeply for a moment. She thought about going to visit her mother at the town hall, but she would probably be too buried in her work to even acknowledge her.

Elle's mother was Judge Margaret Holloway; one of the most respected citizens, a loyal and noble woman, renowned for her fairness and intelligence throughout Shepherd's Glen. She basically looked like an older version of Elle. And Elle had to admit, that if she looked ended up like her mother (looks wise anyway) she would be fairly happy.

That was the good things about her. The bad things; although she was an ok mother, she was an absolute workaholic; she didn't have a lot of time for Elle if she had work to do (which was all of the time now). Not to mention, she seriously lacked a little thing called emotions. She wasn't one of the mother's who cried when their child sang at a school concert, or even when her husband died.

"Maybe I could go and find Alex. He's probably the only one I can trust, and I'm probably the only one he can trust." Elle started to walk aimlessly, she had no idea where to search for him, his house was the best bet.

A scratchy and grainy noise came out of her cell phone. More footsteps through the fog. These were more erratic.

"Hey! Alex is that you again... Nora! Is it you?"

* * *

_Elle lay on the couch reading a massive textbook, when suddenly her little sister Nora rushed in with her friends; Josh Shepherd; who was Alex's younger brother and Adam and Lillian Shepherd's son, Scarlett Fitch; who was the towns doctor Martin Fitch's daughter and Joey Bartlett; Mayor Sam Bartlett's son. _

_"Hey you guys, can you go somewhere else. I have a really important Physics test tomorrow" Elle asked._

_"Oh! Please Elle, we want to play, and it's raining outside" Nora begged her big sister with her sweet puppy dog eyes, her friends looked at her in the same way. _

"_Fine, I'll go upstairs but be quiet. What are you going to play anyway?" Elle said as she got off the couch._

"_We're going to act out you and Alex's wedding. Nora told us everything" Scarlett Fitch said innocently. Elle wished that the ground would open up and swallow her right now._

"_You left your diary open. It said you wanted to pounce on him Alex you saw him gardening shirtless." Nora teased. Elle screamed and stormed off._

_"Don't worry Elle; my brother said something about you looking good in that French lingerie when I caught him talking in his sleep." Josh called. Now that was something she could of done without knowing; Alex's dreams about her. Then again she was one to talk._

_Elle dragged her sister into the kitchen "Nora! We need to talk now; has Josh told you anything else about Alex and me? Please don't look in my diary, and why do you and your friends think me and Alex are dating? Because he's my best friend, and by the way... how the hell do you kids know about lingerie? You're like 6!"_

"_I'm sorry sis, but Josh said that his parents didn't like Alex bothering with that whore, what's a whore?" Nora continued to mock._ _Elle's face filled with anger, like an erupting volcano._

_"Oh, at least I care for their son, and don't punch him around. And from what I heard Mom say, they can talk, apparently Alex's father was their window cleaner...Oh man! Nora please doesn't tell anyone what I just said, it's really important."_

_Nora ran to hug Elle's leg. "I'm sorry Elle, I'll be good and I love you. I won't tell anyone." Nora ran back into the other room to play with her friends._

_"I could strangle here sometimes, but I could never lose her" Elle thought._

_

* * *

_

Gurgling ruptured through the freezing air. No human could make that noise.

Then it emerged from the fog. A hideous skinned dog, without eyes or ears, blood dripping from its every orifice, mouth sewn shut with barbed wire. It charged at her.

But then her adrenaline kicked in like a jackhammer, she leaped out the way while the dog carried on charging and sprinted away, her long and toned legs began to speed up. But without warning the fog got thicker. She ended up down a dead end, with the dog running after her, she had only one hope, she quickly fumbled through nearby garbage cans.

The dog approached. She could hear its claws. No weapons. Hopeless. But suddenly her luck looked up when she found a lead pipe. She swung manically, smashing through the creature's skull. It hit the floor dead. But it got up again.

* * *

**At the moment I'm re-editing this story seeing as I wrote it almost a year ago, and looking back it's little shoddy in places. This chapter took me 30 minutes to edit from the original, so hopefully I should be finished by the end of the week.**


	2. Reunited

**Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or anything related to it.**

* * *

The creature pounced, claws flailing. She whacked it again with the pipe.

It didn't get back up.

She inspected its morbidly captivating corpse. Without warning its mouth ripped open; organs gushed out of its mouth in a bloody waterfall. Elle heaved, vomit touching her tonsils.

She ran back out onto the main streets. Lights and noise whirling around in her mind like it was a faulty carousel.

"What the hell was that? Oh God I killed it... it would have killed me... it has to be some really sick joke... no, seems pretty real to me." Elle thought.

She made herself run, she couldn't stay alone. She thought about going to see Deputy Sheriff Wheeler, he'd know what to do. That was the best bet, so she set off for the police station, clutching the pipe like a lifeline.

Elle checked her jacket pockets for her phone; it never had a signal anymore, but she still kept it anyway. She tried not to think if there were any more monsters out there.

She passed her favourite restaurant "Solar".

* * *

_Elle was sat alone surrounded by textbooks. She was the sole waitress on this gloomy Sunday afternoon. She had worked part time in "Solar" for 5 months, the pay was ok and the hours weren't bad. She was only 15, but Shepherd's Glen was so small that the shop owners were ridiculously short staffed._

_"Solar" was usually busy, but they were some slow days; like today for instance. No one had come in for an hour. That wasn't a disaster for Elle; she was using this quiet time to study for her English test, on "Catcher in the Rye". She just finished reading a page on how teenage angst, when the door opened. She walked over to the customer._

"_Hello, I'm Elle and welcome to Solar, I'll be your waitress, wait... Alex is that you?"_

"_Elle I just need a drink." Alex collapsed into his seat, looking like death warmed up._

"_You look awful. Sorry. Really thin and pale. When was the last time you eaten?"_

"_2 days ago, before Mom left to visit her sister. Dad is not letting me eat until I stop being a failure"_

"_What the hell! Alex that's just wrong! Tell the police"_

"_My Dad is the police!" Alex said grouchily._

_Elle strolled into the kitchen to get as much food for him as possible. She was disgusted that a human being could do that to their child. She brought him out 3 plates of fries and 2 burgers. He devoured all of it in minutes._

"_What have you done to be a failure?"Elle asked._

"_Well...when I scrubbed the floor I missed a spot. And I put the groceries in the fridge wrong. So he has reasons." Alex looked ashamed. Elle had read that children in Alex's situation blamed themselves to justify what their parents did to them._

"_Are they major crimes? Don't make excuses for him Alex! Deep down you know you've done nothing wrong. You aren't the failure; you get good grades, a job and you're a nice guy."_

"_Thanks for that Elle. I appreciate it, but I'd best be off, Dad can't find out I've been here"_

"_You're staying with me. Please, I won't rest otherwise." Elle said firmly._

"_I'll just get some stuff together. Thank you, you really are my best friend" Alex ran out of the restaurant, usually he refused to stay with Elle because he didn't want to be a burden, so his Father must have been more awful to him than usual. Elle got out her cell phone and rang her Mother._

"_Can Alex stay other for a few days? It's really important; his Dad isn't being too good."_

"_I'm out of town the next few days on business. As long as you two keep everything clean and keep Nora safe, its fine with me." Margaret Holloway replied down the phone._

"_Out of town again! You always seem like you got work on. I'm not Nora's nanny you know." Elle said frustrated._

"_I appreciate you work Elle. I'm just really busy at the moment." Elle's Mother hung up. Elle sighed; her Mother never said "I love you"._

* * *

She was about 2 streets away when a static erupted from her cell phone. Out of the fog two of the skinned dogs and a tall man with a sharp pendulum head sprinted towards her.

Elle swung at the dogs in quick succession; they fell to the floor like bowling pins, letting out a primal howl as she lowered the pipe down into their skulls. Crack! She screamed in relief. But it was far from over, the pendulum head began charging.

She ran, the monster on her tail like Pac-Man, his footsteps were getting louder as he stalked her through the fog.

Finally! She arrived at the police station. She spotted a pistol and an assault rifle on a crate by the entrance. The pendulum head swung for her, she ducked and leaped out of the way. Elle yelped as she was almost decapitated.

She reached for the pistol. And fired. She jumped due to the surprising recoil on the pistol, the monster staggered backwards. She fired another round at it; it stumbled to the floor dying. She finished it off with a pipe blow to the chest. The noise of the pipe crashing through the ribs was a massive splat, like boulder hitting wet mud.

Before she could exhale, Alex ran out of the police station, chased out by a massive ape like creature covered in bondage tape. He ran out backwards, firing shotgun shells into its torso, but the beast knocked him over.

Elle aimed at the ape's eyes and fired; its massive body pounding to the concrete. Arcs of blood shooting everywhere. Alex leapt up to his feet and ran towards Elle, without thinking they burst into an embrace.

"Alex, what the hell is going on here? The town is falling apart and these things are..."

"I don't know. I saw them too. Now, I gotta go off and search for Josh. Come with me if you want". Alex replied as he hugged willowy body. She let go of him.

"I more or less saved his life and still he only cares about finding his brother!" Elle thought, before she instantly feeling guilty for it.

But before she could say anything, dozens of monsters began to circle them like vultures stalking a dying calf.

"We got to run, there's too many of them!" Alex grabbed Elle's hand.

"The sewers! They'll be the safest place." Elle yanked his arm and lead him to the nearest manhole. They jumped down, falling into the soft dirt below.

Elle sobbed softly. Alex knew something was wrong; her tough girl act was fading quickly.

"Elle... we can survive this, I promise you, when I get Josh, we're going to escape."

"So you're promising that you're not going to disappear and join the army for 2 years, without even telling me! Wait what am I saying... Alex I'm sorry, I'm just a little crazy at the moment. I just don't want to lose you again, because..." Elle's sobbing stopped her from continuing.

Alex noticed a missing person's poster stuffed in her jacket pocket, he took it out and looked at it; Nora's smiling face was on it.

"I'm sorry Elle. I didn't know. All this time I've said about Josh, and she's missing too."

"It's hopeless. The town is hell. We can't do anything, and we'll never find anyone." Elle lamented.

"Don't say that, we can find Josh and Nora and then the 4 of us can leave this hell together. We need to stick together, there's safety in numbers. First of all we have to find Doctor Fitch, apparently he has answers. Your Mom told me so" Alex helped her to her feet.

And so, they began to make their way through the sewers, together.

* * *

**Redrafted as of 14th March 2011. I'll be doing the rest ASAP. If you want to read the rest when it's redrafted, message me and I'll tell you when it's done. **

**:)**


	3. The Sewers

**Chapter 3 now guys! This is a bit longer. Hope you enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or anything related to it.**

* * *

Elle spent the next 30 minutes explaining what had happened to her up until now, and after much hassle she managed to get Alex to explain what had happened to him.

"Then I woke up in the Grand Hotel in Silent Hill. Mayor Bartlett was there." Alex said.

"Silent Hill? The town that's next to us, across Toluca Lake." Elle replied.

"Yeah, that Silent Hill, it was like here, all full of monsters and fog."

"That can't just be a coincidence. What about Mayor Bartlett?"

"He told me he killed his son Joey a few years back, and then this huge monster appeared and killed Bartlett." Alex replied.

"Now that's weird Alex, Joey Bartlett was reported missing as well. So his dad killed him did he? I guess Bartlett got what he deserved. What happened to you then?"

"I woke up in the police station and then I met you." Alex said; he was always a man of few words. Was Elle hallucinating, or was he now as relieved to see her as she was to see him?

"That's awful. You ok?"

"I'm fine, more importantly what about you?"Alex hadn't changed much; he always had put others over himself.

"Don't worry about me; I've lasted this long on my own haven't I?" Elle hated anyone thinking that she couldn't look after herself.

"But I couldn't stand to lose you." Alex's sincerity was warming Elle's heart, he actually deeply cared for her. "Elle, I never got to thank you, for all you did for me, looking after me when no one else would. I just wish I did something back." Alex said.

"You're wrong, you really did everything for me."

* * *

_Alex had come up Elle's house for dinner, and now he was sat in her room by himself, avoiding going back home. After what seemed like a forever of daydreaming Elle finally returned from the bathroom._

"_Your Mom cooks a good lasagne, so why did you leave most of it? You aren't eating enough."_

"_Alex I'm fine! Relax! I'm just not in the mood for food." Elle pushed him away defiantly, he felt her bony arms._

_"You're getting painfully thin. Something is wrong. No one has seen you eat properly for months." Alex then snatched her bag off her, dieting pills fell out._"_Elle, you're abusing these aren't you, it can kill you." She slapped him hard in the face._

"_Give them back!" She shouted._

_Alex snatched them from her. She grappled with him for them. But she collapsed on the floor in a heap, due to hunger. Alex wrapped his arms around her; she tightened his grip, shivering in his arms. _

_"Please I'm a mess, look at me!" Elle yelled._

"_No you're beautiful. Now get some rest. "Her hip bones pressed painfully into Alex's chest as he lay her down on her bed. She was alarmingly light to carry; she definitely had lost lots of weight. _

"_Please don't tell my mom." Elle begged. Alex hugged her until she stopped speaking._

_He watched her gaunt body as she crashed asleep. She was too fatigued to reason with now; once she had rested Alex thought that he could talk about it further with her. He stayed for a moment, making sure she was ok._

_He sat at the end of her bed, he watched her chest slowly rise and fall, like the blue tide on a Hawaiian beach. He stared at the bright Backstreet Boys poster on her wall, he never was a fan of boy bands, too much ego and not enough talent as he always said. _

_He loved Elle deeply, as a friend, and sometimes more than a friend. But he was too terrified to tell her how he felt._

_"Forget it Alex. You're more of a gay best friend than a boyfriend. It took you half a year to realise that the girl you love has a serious eating disorder... She can do much better than me." Alex's thought._

_He had so much to be confident about, but instead was in a spiral of chronic shyness and mild self loathing. He wouldn't even look at himself in the mirror some days. His father told him he was a waste of space, a weakling, a pathetic excuse for a man who would never get anywhere in life; that never helped Alex, neither the violent beatings he received._

_His mother wasn't violent, and occasionally she even cared about him, but she didn't do anything to stop his father. The fact that she didn't seem to care about his ill treatment gnawed at Alex's heart like a hungry rodent. He knew parents weren't meant to be like this._

_To survive the harsh reality that he lived in he created a haven in his mind, a place where he felt safe and free to be himself. His father had realised this, and not to Alex's surprise Adam Shepherd was disgusted by this daydreaming. Alex was still getting beaten if his father ever caught him daydreaming, or if Josh ever squealed on him._

_"Dad is never right. I will become a man. I will do something great. I will do the right thing." Alex thought. _

_Elle always told him that his Father was wrong, that Alex was a much greater man than what his Father would ever be. Elle was the only one who had ever gotten Alex out of his shell, and told him he was special. Elle was too precious for Alex to lose. He had to get her through this, somehow._

_He lingered for a moment, her presence made him feel safe. He eventually left, bumping into her mother on the stairs._

_"Hello Alex. Is Elle ok? I heard tears. What happened?" Her mother asked. Alex explained everything._

"_This is awful. She has been in a state since just before her 14th birthday over a year ago; with her father's death and all that. She's still depressed. You truly are a wonderful boy, thank you Alex. Remember you're always welcome in my home." She said to Alex. _

_She hugged him before he left. She thought he was strong and bold, keeping a brave face, she didn't know that night he locked himself in his room and cried for an hour._

* * *

"You told my mom, she got me counselling. I got over everything. Thank you."

"What are friends for?" Alex said.

"...Helping each other through crazy shit like this." Elle finished.

They came to a ledge. They jumped down together. A pool of stagnant sewage was nearby, the stench revolting. Elle's cell phone and Alex's walkie talkie suddenly went crazy with static.

Out of the pool arose 4 bald deformed mermaid-like creatures, beckoning them with their sharp claws.

Elle drew her pistol and Alex grabbed his shotgun, but before they could fire, the mermaids dived underwater. Out of the blue the mermaids arose below them, knocking them over.

Elle crawled across the floor in a mad rush to grab her pipe; a mermaid was closing in on her. She battered the mermaid to the floor with a massive sweep. Then lowered her pipe down on the monsters head. It stopped moving. Its long talons limp like fish.

Alex meanwhile flipped onto his feet and began swinging his axe around in circles, attempting to keep the monsters at bay. Their long claws tapped the axe blade, he ducked below their blows and swirled the axe into a mermaids abdomen, it screeched and charged at him. Alex dodged and whacked the axe down on a mermaids skull, it let out a deathly howl as it crashed to the floor. The axe encrusted into its scalp like sequins.

The 2 remaining monsters circled Elle. Alex pushed her onto the floor and decapitated one with an axe; its head hit the floor with a dull thud and began to roll. The final monster knocked Alex into a brick wall; the impact sent a ripple of sound waves through him.

The mermaid slid closer and closer to Alex, raising his arms. Elle sprinted towards the monster, and whacked her lead pipe with all her strength at the monsters spine, disks shattered like glass. It stumbled in an almost drunken stupor to the floor. Elle helped him to his feet.

"You definitely don't need any protection. You can protect me though if you want." They both laughed, but then Elle suddenly stopped.

"I can't believe this, how come we just did... that. And we're laughing. What's happening to us?" Elle said, in fear of herself. Alex stared back at her calmly.

"Elle, it's a way of coping, remember in times of great danger, humans become unfeeling, but afterwards..."

"Yeah, but if you haven't noticed I smashed a monsters skull in with a pipe, and you just hacked one nearly in half! What are we? We aren't killers Alex, so why are we doing this?" Elle was getting hysterical.

Alex put his arm around her shoulder, and stroked her back gently. He was relieved when it managed to calm her down.

"These things aren't human. They aren't even animals. They're just sick creatures that would kill us if we didn't kill them first." He said.

"But what are they? And why do they want to kill us?"

"Elle, I don't know, but I'm sure we can find out. Like I said, in times like this parts of us numb."

"I guess you could be right, I still feel like a freak. Why the hell haven't I just crawled on the floor and cried? But I wasn't the whizz kid in psychology like you were." Elle said.

* * *

"_Shepherd; best essays I've ever read, far greater than most university work: 100%. Holloway, you're improving... slightly: 54%" Their psychology teacher said as she gave them their work. The bell went, Alex and Elle rushed out of class for lunch._

"_I whizz through every class except psychology. How are you so good, I mean Miss Bennett worships you, I mean you have university grade essays. What was your investigation on anyway?" Elle asked while rummaging through her locker for her lunch money._

"_I just find it interesting. And my investigation was on the effects of parental abuse on children in later life" Alex said._

"_Oh..." Elle replied. There was little else she could say. She eventually found the money and closed the locker. But before they could make their way into the cafeteria she felt someone smack her behind._

_"Oh, look who it is, Barbie and Ken!" Ryan Kaufman said mocking them; he was bad news and liked to bully Alex and Elle._

_"Get lost Ryan, don't you have community service or something?" Elle said._

"_Ha-ha, Barbie, don't you have to see your daddy, oh wait... didn't he kill himself! Oh my mistake!" Alex flared up in anger, and was ready to snap at Ryan._

_"Get lost now! You'll be sorry." Alex threatened._

"_Oh Alex, what are you going to do, I seen those bruises in the locker room before PE, doesn't your father give you them, he won't be too happy with you if you do something stupid, he might hit you more." Ryan relished every word._

_This time Elle replied, by punching Ryan square in the face. He hit the floor out cold._

_"Whoa! What did you just do? That was crazy" Alex asked in shock as they went into the cafeteria._

"_He shouldn't say that type of stuff to us though. And it's better that I hit him, I mean how many times have you kicked a waster like Ryan's ass, because they say that sort of stuff about us?" Elle asked._

"_3 times. But it could have been a fourth time if you hadn't beat me to it then." _

_Due to his good looks, athletic prowess, kindness, intelligence and the fact that he was best friends with one of the hottest girls in town, Alex often fell prey to bullies (his lazy eye and tragic home life were the subjects of the main abuse he got); it was a similar situation with Elle, she was sweet, amazingly beautiful, a whizz at everything in school and not to mention that very close to one of the most handsome boys in all of Shepherd's Glen. These bullies all stopped, as soon as they got the Shepherd right hook, or in this case the Holloway right hook._

* * *

They hit a dead end; they looked at each other, wondering what to do. Alex spied a closed gate.

"Could we crawl under this gate if I open it with this wheel."Alex asked, Elle nodded.

Alex began turning the wheel, as soon as the gate was open enough Elle crawled underneath. Alex let go to go through himself, but the gate fell down. Seperated.

Static roared. 2 dogs and a mermaid creature rose and came towards Elle.

"Those monsters are in here!" Elle screamed.

Alex was occupied; 2 pendulum heads were storming towards him, swiping backwards and forwards.

Elle swung her pipe at a dog, its neck bone smashed through its head. Elle ignored the terrible noise. She dodged the other dog, it bit deep into her coat, she shook at it, to stop its dagger teeth sinking into her arm. But its jaws locked. She smashed its skull open with the pipe until it fell into a lifeless mound. No celebrating yet, the mermaid had her cornered. She fumbled for the pistol.

Alex dodged the pendulum head swinging towards him. He swivelled round and hacked it in the back. The monster convulted wildly, hit the floor, and become as rigid as steel. The other charged. Alex was ready, like a matador leading a bull, Alex slid out of its way. He blasted his shotgun. It fell to its knees.

Elle swiftly shot bullets into the mermaids face; its mouth was crammed full of sharp spikes. A bullet hit a tooth, and bounced off like it was a pin on a trampoline. The monster finally slid to the floor; Elle finished it off with a stamp.

She found another wheel, and used it to let Alex through. They sat down in the earth for a moment, breathing rapidly.

"I don't think I can do this anymore. It's too painful, I just want to leave." Alex shivered, drained of his warmth, cold as arctic tundra, shivering erratically. He still was the scared and traumatised young boy.

She held his hand in hers, and put her arm around his wide shoulders.

"We can do this, together. You need me, and I need you. After this, we'll never ever go to Shepherd's Glen ever again, I promise. We can live anywhere we want."Elle wiped a tear from Alex's cheek.

Slowly Alex's warm glow returned. He stayed in her comforting hold for a minute, even stifling a smile.

"We need to go onto the surface." Alex put his layers and layers of emotional armor back on.

"To Dr Fitch. Scarlett went missing too you know." Elle said.

"We're nearly above Dr Fitch's office; so we can speak to him about Scarlett as well." Alex replied.

"Remember that's where we first met, Do you remember?" Alex was too busy remembering to answer.

* * *

_A bubbly 5 year old girl struggled to escape her mother's firm grip._

_"Best behaviour. No wandering. I have to speak to important men." Margaret Holloway left her daughter in Dr Fitch's living room._

_The little girl played with her dolls. The door opened again, this time a slight young boy her age was pushed in, by a grumpy man. She walked towards him, he looked absolutely terrified._

_"Hiya, my name is Elle, what's your name?"_

"_A ... A ... Alex" The boy huddled up in the corner._

"_Come and sit on the couch and play with me". Elle asked._

_"I'm not allowed to sit on the couch in my house, my dad gets mad."_

"_What, your daddy gets mad with you because of that, mine only gets mad at me if I do something bad. What else does he do?" Elle was shocked. _

_"Well he doesn't like me. He tells me I'm pathetic and a failure. And he makes me cut wood in the garden for hours whatever the weather." Elle couldn't __believe what she was hearing._

_"Daddies don't do that, they love their kids and hug and kiss them all their time."_

_"My daddy never lets me hug him; my mommy hugs me, but only when he isn't around, she hides toys for me, which she lets me play with when he isn't looking." Alex said, as if it was completely normal._

_"My mommy hugs me and my daddy does all the time, and they both let me have toys." Alex was surprised by this. Elle walked towards him and hugged him herself._

_"We can be friends, we can go out and play games and do all the stuff friends do. What friends do you have?"_

_"None. Daddy says I don't deserve one."_

_Margaret Holloway and Adam Shepherd came through the door. _

_"Alex! What have I told you?" Adam Shepherd roared thunderously. Alex looked terrified._

"_I don't see what the fuss is about. Maybe they could play together more often." Margaret Holloway stared daggers at Adam._

"_Ok, if it's ok with you Judge Holloway." Adam Shepherd gritted his teeth as he dragged Alex away from Elle._

_"See you later Alex." Elle smiled at Alex. He smiled back, not realising this friendship would be till this day._

* * *

"Alex, my head feels funny." Elle struggled to stay upright.

"Mine too. I felt like this before."

They both collapsed to the floor in sync.


	4. Drilling to the Past

**As some of you Silent Hill fans could tell, this chapter isn't in the game at all, I made it up. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or anything related to it.**

* * *

Elle awoke alone, outside, in a very familiar place, "Shepherd's Glen coal mine". Her father had owned it. The icy wind danced around her.

"Alex! What the hell! Alex! Anybody!" She yelled. Her heart was racing and she began to hyperventilate. She was alone, and on the outskirts of town, "Lord knows where Alex is now" she thought. She had the pipe, pistol and assault rifle on her. She contemplated just ending everything and shooting herself, when suddenly she heard noises down the mine shaft.

"Elle... Elle come see me." A voice called out, the unmistakable voice of Elle's father. Elle ran down the mine shaft quickly, the voice carried on calling for her. She replaced her lead pipe with a nearby, more dangerous crowbar. She then entered the miner's elevator and began to descend. She didn't know why she was doing this, but her instincts told her to follow the voice. The dark coal glittered slightly as she turned on her clip-on flashlight.

_

* * *

_

_Elle sat on the swing on her back lawn porch, watching the heavy rain as it battered the roof. Nora sat next to her reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"._

"_Elle, where's Mom?" Nora asked as she closed her book. _

"_I don't know, I think she had work late or something." Elle said casually. Their mother suddenly rushed through the door, with Sheriff Adam Shepherd and Deputy Wheeler. _

_"Hi Sheriff, is Alex ok?" Elle asked sweetly, but with a layer of hidden mocking sewed in. _

_"He's fine, busy getting you a present for your 14th birthday, Nora, would you like to go inside for a minute with Wheeler, to play cards or something, we need to speak to your sister." Elle's heart collided with her rib cage. Nora was led inside. Elle was terrified about what she was going to hear. _

"_Elle, I got some terrible news. I'll be blunt with you, because I know you would rather it that way, your father committed suicide earlier this morning, he shot himself in the head." Margaret Holloway said surprisingly calmly. Elle was left speechless; she couldn't believe what she was hearing._

"_You're lying mom, you have to be, it's just a sick joke! Where is he?" Elle said when her mouth was finally able to leave paralysis. Her mother and Adam Shepherd repeated the story several more times, Elle still was in denial. "Why would dad kill himself, he was happy?"_

"_He wasn't Elle; he hid his manic depression from all of us, including me." Margaret replied, still calm, but before she could continue, Elle stormed away in tears._

* * *

The lift came to a halt; Elle carefully stepped out and started to walk, she entered a massive cavern, which was about 100 feet high. She started to hear clanking and footsteps.

"Hello are you alone as well." The static ripped through her ears, whatever it was wasn't friendly. She shone her light at it, and saw a 6 foot tall man in mining clothes, saturated in ash and dust; his long arms had sharp but short claws at the tips, he wore a very heavy iron helmet and had a chained weight around his ankles that dragged behind him as he walked. He walked towards her, slowly and in a hazed state, barely in a straight line, flailing his arms wildly, she shone the light on his face, his face was rotting, his eyes were permanently stretched open, and his mouth was stretched into a sick and perverse eternal grin, scars on his mouth elongated it further, a cockroach crawled over his cheeks. He continued towards her.

Elle swiftly drew her pistol and fired at him twice in the torso, with little avail; the bullets pierced the deep layers of dark denim overalls. She then fired again in fear. The bullet pierced his head like a needle in a balloon, the miner hit the floor dead. Elle screamed as another 3 pairs of miners boots began to clunk, followed by the screech of the static.

She began to run as quick as she could, but ended up in the arms of one of the miners, it swiftly began to grope her chest while strangling her, Elle thought again about giving up, but then thought of Alex and Nora, she had to do this for them. She kicked the miner in the groin, with a massive howling yell he let go of her and stumbled to the floor; Elle swiftly fired a round into its head and continued to run. 8 miners carried on chasing her through the narrow caverns, she came to a gap. What could she do, she had to try and jump it. The noise of the boots clattering grew louder and louder.

"I came first in the long jump" she thought as she began to leap like a gibbon. She made the other side. But she started to slide off. She gripped the rocks. They started to crumble. She fell. But gripped another part of the rock and worked her way back onto the cavern floor. She carried on running like a psychopath as the calling from her father increased; she made it to the end of the cavern. It was a small globe like room; her father is stood silent in the middle of the room, waiting for her. She ran up to him and hugged him, she didn't care if he was meant to be dead, he was back, and stranger things had happened to her today, she was ready to speak to him when he pushed her to the floor. Memories came back to her, memories which she had buried deep down for years.

* * *

_It was late at night. Elle's father was turning the house over in a drunken rage. Elle was alone with him. She cowered in the corner, trying to hide from him. Shivering as her heart bounced like a pinball._

"_Elle! Where is your mother! She's late, and hasn't made dinner yet!" Elle's father yelled in anger._

"_I don't know dad, she said she'd be back again, what's wrong. You've been drinking again haven't you?" Elle said cautiously as she kept as great a distance between her and him as possible, she didn't want him to be aggressive to her, like he was to her mother, the times she watched them argue violently._

_"What do you think? You stupid brat!" He shouted as he hurled a glass at her, which she dodged, the broken shards rained down like snow. He came closer towards her. She smelt the familiar aroma of vodka and vomit on him._"_Have you been hiding my drink again, you must have, I need more, and I can't find any, you rotten whore." He shouted as he punched her in the jaw, she screamed out loud, she knew it was hopeless to fight back. His bloodshot eyes stared her body over lustfully as he grabbed her hair and threw her into a wall. _

_"I'll give you something to scream about now." Her father said in rage. She yelped; she knew too well what he was going to do to her. Suddenly the door slammed open, Margaret Holloway came in._

_"What is the meaning of this? Leave this house now. I'm calling the police! You'll be in jail if you don't leave now!" Margaret said in pure maternal rage. _

_"I'll be back Margaret. I'll kill Nora and Elle. Then you." He said as he stormed out of the door into the night. Margaret went to see her daughter, who was crying on the stairs._

* * *

Elle got back off the floor of the mine and drew her pistol.

"You're just an illusion, a manifestation of this sick town. You never were the perfect father, I just buried all those memories and pretended that you were, and I guess I wanted to believe them so much, I ended up believing my lies."

The father stood still for a moment, then he started to change, as did the environment around him, the rocky walls peeled, replaced with a rotting fleshy substance, and rusty metal. He started to crawl on all fours, his teeth grew massive and jagged, his eyes grew bloodshot and reptilian like, he also grew a massive scorpion tail and his hands became crablike pincers. The creature was about 8 feet long, like a massive industrial scorpion.

Elle was welded to the spot in fright. Her limbs went as hard as diamond. Her heart battered wildly into her ribcage. The monster came closer and closer. She was bound in pure terror. Elle suddenly sprung out of her fear like a jack in the box. The monster began to swing for her with its tail, she leaped out of the way and began firing pistol rounds at its body, but it was covered in a strong rusty exoskeleton, the bullets bounce off it. She had an idea; she lay on the floor and rolled under the monster, and fired dozens of bullets into its soft under belly, the monster let out howling screams of agony.

It kicked her into a wall, and clawed her hand with its pincer. She held the pain in as she carried on firing. It swung its tail at her. She blocked it with the crowbar and smashed the fleshy tail open. Then swung at the creatures legs, they cracked in half. It hit the floor half dead. But suddenly the dying beast pounced on her, to try and crush her with its brute strength. Her back struggled to maintain the pressure. She focused all her strength to hold back the monster. She fumbled to load the assault rifle. She fired point blank at the beast's eyes. Killing it. It let out a raging hiss as it died.

She continued to swing at its corpse repeatedly with her crowbar; she was in a wild frenzy, her anger shot out of her, like a geyser shooting boiling water into the air.

"You monster. I hate you! You evil evil evil! Monster!" Elle yelled in rageful tears.

The pain in her head appeared again, thumping like a bongo drum. The floor began to spin wildly like a helter skelter. Elle fell onto the cold, coal covered floor in an unconscious huddle.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed. Tell me what you thought of it.**


	5. Dead and Buried

**Hey guys, here is another chapter. ****It's quite a long one compared to others. **

**They is a bit more dialogue than usual, but most of it's necessary. Hope you enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or anything related to it. (I wish I did, I'd be rich!)**

* * *

This time she awoke in city hall, lying on a couch, with Alex at her bedside. His red eyes and fidgety lazy eye were telltale signs that he had been crying.

"Oh my god, you're here." She yelled in relief. He embraced her, hugging her tightly, as much to comfort him as it was to comfort her.

"What happened? I woke up in Dr Fitch's office" Alex said. He explained the rest of the story to her; Dr Fitch had killed his daughter Scarlett, then Scarlett came back as a vengeful monster that killed her father."I found a key to the city hall basement, so I went there, I saw you out cold by the entrance, and took you inside to safety." Alex added. This was more evidence to support that he was a man of few words.

"Thanks Alex. I woke up in the old Shepherd's Glen coal mine; you know the one my dad used to own. I got attacked by these horrible creatures. Then I fell unconscious again and woke up here. What did you find in the basement then?" Elle said, moving on the topic swiftly. She purposely left out that one of those creatures was a manifestation of her father!

"A ceremonial dagger and paintings of the 4 founding families of Shepherd's Glen; mine, yours, the Fitch's and the Bartlett's." Alex said.

"Alex, all 4 families have a missing child." Elle said in pure shock of what she discovered. They both stayed silent for a moment as their minds processed the revelation.

"That's too strange to be a coincidence, they has to be something else at work here, something that we haven't even thought of." Alex said deep in thought again.

"What was the dagger like?" Elle asked, hoping that she could change the subject. The very thought of what Alex had just said terrified her.

"Well, it looks like it fits into a keyhole of a locked door in my house."

"So, unless you have a better plan. We're going to head there." Elle said, Alex smiled and nodded.

They rested for a few minutes, eating some canned food that was left behind, they ate all of it quickly, because they were both starving; Elle remembered that Alex had a mach 1 speed metabolism, so he had to keep eating constantly.

"Alex, how much can you eat!" Elle said in amazement as he ravaged through all the food.

"Hey I'm a growing man." Alex said the same excuse he always used since he was 14.

"You're 20, men stop growing at 21, so you don't have much growing left, besides you're tall enough!" Elle said in a joking smartass voice.

"Well, I've been in the army for 2 years! You need to build yourself up." Alex replied. Elle always wondered about why he joined the army and disappeared, she could finally ask.

"Why did you enlist? Because you were smart, you said you were going to go to university. You promised me that we would both leave this boring dead men's town." Elle said trying to be as bitter as possible, but she couldn't manage it, she was just too glad to have him back.

"Well I... don't know... Elle, how come I seriously can't remember why I enlisted?" Alex said in honest disbelief, he just couldn't remember.

"Serious! You don't remember why you enlisted. Come on just try and remember. What did you do in the army, maybe thinking of that can help you remember?" Elle said calmly to him.

"I remember waking up in the military hospital; they said I was injured in action. After they finally discharged me, I came straight back here. But that's all I can remember." Alex said as his stomach was wrenching in angst. He started to hyperventilate. Alex was unusually panicky; Elle had to calm him down quickly. She put her arms around him; she could feel is heart thumping against her chest. She took him outside, he needed fresh air. The dense grey fog inundated the air around them. He calmed down.

He looked into Elle's beautiful face; fragile and flawless, like a rose. She was terrified. He hugged Elle softly. He considered caressing her stunning curves, stroking her silky hair and exploring the back of her soft neck. But held in his urges. Her beautiful bright blue eyes glistened like shooting stars through the fog. She was beautifully fragile, as if a gust of wind could shatter her into a million pieces. Elle was terrified of the great unknown that seemed to be circling her like a vulture. The wonderful aroma of Elle's Armani perfume entered Alex's nostrils.

"I love the way you smell. So hot. I love you Elle but I'm scared to tell you." Alex thought to himself.

"Alex just hold on to me. Don't ever let go of me. You're so handsome, just look at your jaw line." Elle thought to herself. For a moment they both escaped the terror and hardship of their situation, they lost themselves in admiration of the other. They eventually let go of each other.

"Ok, so back to my place." Alex said jokingly with a hint of irony. Elle nodded.

They to go to Alex's house; thankfully the foggy streets were free of monsters at the moment. Alex spotted Toluca Lake in the distance, and remembered the time when they went there on a hot summer's day when he was 16.

* * *

"_Are we there yet Action Man? My feet are hurting." Elle moaned as she staggered in the scorching heat. _

_"Nearly, just about half a mile. Quit complaining, it's a beautiful day. And my parents and Josh are away for 2 weeks!" Alex said gleefully as they carried on through the high grass. He was staying with Elle._

_The heat was getting worse; Elle wore a short summer dress with sandals, while Alex wore a vest, shorts and sandals. They finally reached the lakes edge; she ripped of her dress to reveal her bikini underneath, while Alex threw off his vest. Alex eyed her curves and amazing legs, she was now fortunately a far cry away from her battle with bulimia, while Elle eyed back at his granite abs and well built arms and legs, he had worked out religiously since he was 14, as a way to gain approval from his father, but like everything else he did to try and gain it, it didn't work. They both lay there. _

_"Elle you're burning put some more sun screen on" Alex told her._

"_I'm too relaxed, can you rub it on me please". Alex happily obliged, although it did seem like she'd put on sun screen 4 times since they left her house 3 hours ago, and it always seemed that it was Alex who had to apply it to her. She needed the sun screen, she was quite pale, but in a beautiful way, not an ill way. Alex was the opposite of Elle; he was naturally tanned, so he didn't have to worry about sun screen as much. But he definitely was going to ask Elle to apply it to him. He played his portable radio which he had saved for, himself, from his part time job at the fishing supplies store, most 17 year olds could get one for Christmas, but Christmas was another awful day for Alex, watching Josh getting everything he wanted and more, while he had to watch and get almost nothing. The song "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen blared out of the radio, it was one of Alex's favourites, he was a massive fan of "The Boss". He played invisible air guitar and sang along, loudly, but out of tune. Elle was relieved, Alex had never been happier, she could tell his father hadn't beaten him for a while, as his body had no major injuries, he was so comfortable around Elle that he didn't give a damn if she saw his bruises or not, he was a far cry away from the shy loner who covered himself up all the time to avoid "shame" that he had been a year or so ago. Elle ran out of patience with his terrible singing and pushed him into the lake, he fell in with a huge splash, in revenge he grabbed her ankles and yanked her in as well, they began to wrestle in the water laughing._

_"Oh you are going to die Action Man!" she giggled repeatedly, as he splashed water over her. _

"_Oh Holloway, I believe you are mistaken!" Alex grabbed her from behind, but she dived underwater and pushed him off, then dunked his head underwater. After 30 minutes of swimming they went out of the water, and dried. They lay next to each other in the sun laughing at each other's jokes and singing along to the songs on the radio. _

_"Alex, what do you want to do now?" Elle said over the loud roaring of the radio. _

_"I don't know "Alex said as he stared at Elle, she stared back._

_"Well I could think of a few things, if you want to Alex". They drew closer and closer together, putting their arms around the others waists, their lips nearly touched when; they someone nearby. They pulled away from each other."I think we'll agree that the sun has gone to our heads." Elle said. Alex nodded._

_Curtis Ackers the town's unshaven handy man came towards them, Elle thought he looked like someone from America's Most Wanted. His unkempt greasy black hair was filled with oil and dirt and covered with a tattered cap. His clothes were creased and covered in motor oil. His teeth were dark yellow and full of fillings._

_"Hello Elle, you look stunning today. You really have grown from a pretty little girl, into a beautiful woman. I bet you're like your mother was at your age." Curtis said lecherously as Elle got up and put her summer dress back on over her bikini in the least sexual way possible, she could tell his eyes were wandering all over her. "That's a pretty dress." He added. Elle heaved. Alex was equally repulsed at him._

_"What are you doing out here then?" Alex asked Curtis, struggling to maintain a neutral tone. _

_"I just fancied a walk. I would ask Elle the same question; it's not safe for a girl like her to be here alone. But she's fine because she's got you; a big, handsome and strapping young man to protect her. You've been working out haven't you?" Curtis said to Alex in a strangely suggestive way. Alex felt nervous, he wished he put his vest back on now, he felted oddly exposed in front of Curtis._

_"We're going soon, so see you some other time." Alex lied, he wouldn't have cared if Curtis died right now._

_"Ok then, I better return to my shop, I've got jobs going if you two are interested. I pay well" Curtis replied in an unconvincing friendly tone, before he left. Alex and Elle sighed unanimously with relief, and went back to enjoying themselves._

* * *

As they made their way past Rosewood Cemetery, Alex stopped for a moment.

"Hey Elle, remember the shortcut we used to take through the cemetery, it'll take us to my house quicker, and we should see less of those monsters."

They clambered across the gravel and grassy turf. Elle's jeans were beginning to fray at the bottom, from all the running and scuffles.

"Oh man! I haven't had these that long. Oh, I guess what I get for stealing them from that crashed Wal-Mart truck in town." Elle thought, she had argued the ethics of stealing clothes, but argued that she was running low on clothes and that no one would buy them anyway.

They walked past the main plot of graves. Elle expected to see Mayor Bartlett digging empty graves in a drunken haze, as he had been for the past year. But then she remembered that he had been killed. She shivered at the thought. Suddenly the static began to go wild.

"Damn! Elle we better run now!" Alex shouted as they sprinted up the labyrinth of crypts, through the looming fog. Alex tripped on the steps. Elle could hear barking approach. Alex stumbled as he got back up; a skinned dog pounced on his back. And another 2 charged at Elle. She flailed her crowbar in a terrified flurry. She heard sickening snaps from the dogs. She ran to Alex who was wrestling 4 dogs off him, he swiped at 2 on his back with a sweep of his axe. He pushed another on the floor; Elle finished it off with a hit with the crowbar. Alex knocked the last dog off him then dropped a crashing blow of his axe into the dog's neck. The wild barking stopped.

Elle helped Alex up off the floor, she needed his help, and he needed hers. They carried on through the cemetery, they walked down a narrow and open corridor of crypts, the fog swirled its way through them. Elle felt something tighten around her leg, like an anaconda curling its body around a gazelle. She shouted to Alex, he flailed his axe around her leg, but suddenly something snared his arms, he was pushed against a wall. Something else tightened around Elle's waist, and pushed her into Alex. They began to resist the tight grip of tendrils, but they just tightened their deathly grip like a stubborn child. Alex swung his axe wildly; Elle did the same with her crowbar. Elle finally saw what was attacking them.

"Alex, it's the ivy! The ivy is attacking us!" Elle yelled at Alex. He hacked at the leafy tendrils. Elle stopped resisting, she had a plan. The vines relaxed on her, she squeezed underneath them, and began to smash the remaining vines off Alex. Alex jumped up, and began to sprint with Elle away from the ivy.

"Elle, what the hell was that then. Even the plants have gone bad here."

"I don't know it's like everything in the town has gone crazy!" Elle said as they came near the exit of the Rosewood Cemetery.

"How long has the town been like this?" Alex asked her.

"Well just as you enlisted, the 4 children from the founding families disappeared, that was about 2 years ago, it was just after the 150th anniversary of the town's founding." Elle said. Alex remembered the 150th anniversary, he helped at the petting zoo and Elle helped serve drinks to random drunk people. He had a great time that day, and always remembered it, it was one of the times he saw Elle until today, as he enlisted soon after. "And the fog came soon afterwards, but got worse about 6 months ago. So many people have disappeared since then. I haven't seen anyone except you, Mayor Bartlett, Dr Fitch, my mom, Deputy Wheeler, your mom and that creepy handyman Curtis Ackers for a month!"

"Oh... creepy Curtis, I saw him earlier, and he's weirder than ever." Alex said, he hadn't even thought it was possible. Elle spotted Shepherd's Glen High School's baseball pitch in the distance, she felt slightly relieved because the school was near her and Alex's houses. They were nearly there.

_

* * *

_

_Elle sat on the crowded bleachers, the crowd was going wild for the Shepherd's Glen High School baseball team, she had gone to support the team, and more importantly to support Alex, who was one of their best players. Cassie Steinbeck (the head cheerleader) sat behind Elle, her heavily made up face and masses of hair extensions stared at Elle as if she was the bubonic plague. Cassie hated Elle, as Cassie's boyfriend like most boys in the school, thought Elle was hot._

_"Hey Elle, are you cheering for Alex. How sweet. Are you dating?" Cassie said in her typical bitchy and antagonistic tones._

"_Yeah I am cheering for him. And no we're just friends." Elle said not wanting to satisfy Cassie._

"_Oh, he doesn't love you does he. I heard he has the hots for me. But I guess there is no wonder, I mean I think any boy would chose me over you" Cassie said cruelly, Elle knew that she was lying; Cassie was a stranger to the truth._

"_Cassie has that Botox gone to your deluded little head or something. Alex would never date someone more plastic than Barbie." Elle said; Cassie looked speechless. She stormed off without saying another word. Elle was angry that a fake airhead was trying to stir things up. Luck improved when Elle's friend Helen came to sit by her. "Hey Elle, is this seat taken?" _

"_No Helen, come sit down. The game is a close one, its Alex's turn to bat now. If he gets a run, Shepherd's Glen wins."Elle said to Helen. Elle enjoyed talking to Helen, she was understanding and fun to be with. Helen was also equally as attractive as Elle, which was more than attractive enough to get a job in Abercrombie and Fitch. Elle noticed that lots of the male audience around her were staring at Helen and her; she could easily guess what fantasies were going through their minds at the moment._

_"Whoa! He's good! But I guess he is good at all sports. He's on the soccer team as well isn't he, he should be on the football team, they need someone strong like him." Helen said._

_"He's busy enough with soccer and baseball practices." Elle said, a white lie, she knew that he loved sports because it was time away from his parents, and it was one of the few times that he would actually get to socialise. But she also knew that he wouldn't do football, because it was too dangerous and painful, especially seeing he got enough injuries from his father._

_Alex went up to bat, the pitcher threw the ball at him, Alex whacked a home run. The supporters went wild; Shepherd's Glen High School had won! Elle and Helen hugged each other in relief. The crowd began chanting Alex's name. Alex just smiled and waved at the crowd. After most of the crowd had left, Elle stayed behind to talk to Alex. He walked out of the locker rooms with all the other players; they were all yelling his name and congratulating him._

_Suddenly Cassie scuttled towards Alex, while making sure that Elle was watching."Oh great, what's this bitch going to do now." Elle thought to herself. Cassie embraced him and tried to kiss him wildly, Alex pushed her away, Alex's friends on the baseball team all began to laugh. Cassie went into another tantrum and stormed off again. Alex walked over in confusion to see Elle._

_"What the hell was that about?" Alex asked still shocked._

_"Cassie was just showing her feelings to you. Do you want to come up my house for a while now?" Elle said with a massive grin on her face. _

"_Sorry Elle, the rest of the players already asked me to go out with them tonight. I'll be up another time though. Sorry about this." Alex said. _

"_Don't worry; I got some homework to finish anyway. Have fun." Elle said to Alex; before he left with the rest of the baseball team. She would have loved to spend time with him, but she would have never let it stop him from bothering with other friends, as he didn't have many. _

_She made her way home, on the way she saw the town's mayor Sam Bartlett; he began to talk to her. "Elle, long time no see, you've grown older since I last saw you." _

"_Yeah, that is what happens as time progresses". Elle thought to herself as he carried on attempting to be friendly."Hi Mayor Bartlett, how's everything. What have you been up too?" Elle said as politely as she could, she disliked the mayor; he was an absolute idiot and a bit of a drunk. And he always seemed like he was hitting on Elle's mother. _

_"Not bad myself. Say you wouldn't mind babysitting Joey for me again, when I'm out of town in a week or so would you? I'll pay you well again." The mayor asked her. Elle accepted, he may not have been her favourite person, but he did pay well, and she always needed money. Maybe she could even get Alex to come and help her._

* * *

They finally made it to Alex's house, and quickly made their way into the basement. Elle had rarely been in Alex's house, as a teen he practically spent more time at her house than his own. She glanced at photos around the room; she noticed that none of them had Alex in them. He was even ripped out of a family photo! Elle didn't want to tell Alex, he had enough to think about already.

They searched the basement for the locked door. Elle hated basements, all she could think about was her father locking the basement door and coming closer and closer towards her. Elle stayed strong and held back tears; she wasn't going to let the past hold her back, for now. Alex was also struggling to stay strong. He had bad experiences in basements, he remembered being 7; his father locked him in the pitch black basement all night, ignoring his cries and sobbing. Alex's crime; being scared of the dark. His father said he needed to make the man out of him. He also remembered when he was in his teens; his father beat him unconscious for going down into the basement.

Alex put the dagger in the lock, and opened the door. The room was bare except for a letter, Alex picked it up quickly.

"Ok, what now? We got the letter, should we go somewhere safer to read through it?" Elle said.

Suddenly they heard the familiar sounds of clanking and screeching. The iron steps clattered as figures ran down it. But the static wasn't going crazy. They were human. They came into view; half a dozen men in weird outfits, similar to the overalls that the miners that Elle encountered wore. They wore weird apparatus on their faces, like a tribal/demonic gasmask, and were armed with pipes. They carried an unconscious Lillian Shepherd. They made their way towards Alex and Elle, dragging their pipes behind them. Alex and Elle were stunned, and confused. They couldn't kill these humans! But these humans could surely kill them. The men raised their pipes sinisterly as they were nearly in swinging distance. They laughed cruelly, the noise echoed eerily through their apparatus.

Suddenly the wallpaper peeled revealing industrial and rusty walls, the floor began to pulsate, veins and fleshy material appeared over the wood. Industrial fans on the ceiling blew Elle's hair back. They all stood frozen. The men began then looked at each other, and ran away in urgency.

Alex and Elle drew their firearms and forgetting their fear, began to chase after them through the twisted house. Elle's long legs burned as she ran up the steps, 4 at a time. The looming fog collided with them as they left the house. Alex's muscular legs began to ache from the constant running, he had to stop, lactic acid was building in his muscles, but he couldn't let the men escape with his mother. He imagined that his father and the scary pyramid headed man he met earlier were chasing him, it made him run quicker. Elle went running for over an hour every morning, but she was only just about keeping up. Through the thick fog Elle could just make out that they were at the dock. The weirdly dressed men had already got on their boat and were crossing Toluca Lake to Silent Hill.

Alex crashed to the grass in exhaustion; he breathed heavily, wheezed and struggled to speak. Elle dropped to the grass besides him; she was worn out as well. She loomed over him caringly.

"Have I died and gone to heaven? Because this angel is the hottest girl I've ever saw." Alex thought to himself in a slight moment of deliriousness. He was lucky he only thought it, it was the lamest line to say to a girl, but Alex surprisingly never had much confidence with girls. He only ever loved one. And she didn't know.

"Alex! Don't give up now. We can still get to them." Elle said reassuringly as she looked over Alex.

"It's hopeless Elle! What are we going to do now, do you have a boat?" he said in frustration.

"I know someone who does though" Elle said grinning as Deputy Sheriff Wheeler appeared behind Alex.

Twenty minutes later Alex, Elle and Wheeler were sat on the boat.

"Alex what's that letter about?" Elle asked.

"It was written by my dad, it says that he had to chose a son, obviously that son isn't me, I mean he never acknowledged by existence. What a waste of time! "Alex replied bitterly.

"I don't get what those men had to do with the troubles in Shepherd's Glen?" Elle asked Wheeler.

"Those men were the Silent Hill Order; they're a religious sect that his some pretty crazy and evil gods and some psycho followers.

"Ok, Silent Hill has a cult! How come I've never heard of it?" Elle asked surprised. The pieces of the jigsaw were coming closer together.

"The police have done all they could to hide it from the public. It was disbanded a while back after Detective Cartland exposed them to us, obviously someone has restarted it." Wheeler said.

"If it's the Silent Hill order, in Shepherd's Glen, then these towns must be connected in some way. Any ideas?" Alex questioned.

"Well our town was set up by 4 founding families; including both of yours, they broke away from Silent Hill and the Order". Wheeler said purposefully. "I'll be back now." Wheeler added awkwardly as he made an excuse to excuse himself, to give Alex and Elle some time alone. Elle went and sat by an absent minded Alex.

"Alex, I'm sorry for being rude earlier, you just took off, I'm just glad your back, because I feel safe when your around." Elle held Alex's hand in hers softly.

"What are you sorry for? I should apologise. I was so engrossed in finding Josh that I forgot about you. It's just this place has some bad memories as well as the good ones with you" Alex replied to her.

"Everything falls apart, but you get back up again and move forward. You really are inspirational."

"I'm not Elle; otherwise none of this would have happened."

"Don't blame yourself for everything. We'll find Josh, Nora and our parents, and everyone else; they'll be in Silent Hill. Maybe this Order has been kidnapping them or something?"

"We'll find out soon enough. Elle...you really are my best friend." Alex said.

"You're my soul mate, the one who comforted me through all the bad, and made me smile again. How did you do it Alex?" Elle asked.

"How could I sit there and see you miserable?" Alex said.

The boat had reached the dock, but the order members were ready, they knocked Wheeler out with one whack of the pipe into his head and carried him off. The boat was hit with a large thud, Elle and Alex lost balance and both fell onto the land below, unconscious.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed. Tell me all what you thought of it. I'm going on holidays in a few days, so I wont be able to write a new chapter for a while. Until then :)**


	6. Welcome to Silent Hill

**Hey guys. ****I'm back from holidays now.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter, a hell of a lot of crazy stuff happens.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Silent Hill or anything related to it.**

* * *

"Alex! Alex! Wake up!" Elle yelled as Alex awoke to her shaking him wildly. She looked relieved; he eyed a black bruise on her cheek from the fall. "Alex. They took Wheeler and your mom. They must have thought we died in the fall and left us. Where could they have gone?" Elle added as she examined a deep gash on his face. She got a first aid kit from the boat and applied antiseptics to his wound.

"Elle, what are you doing. Ahh!" Alex yelled, the antiseptic stung the wound.

"Sorry Alex, but we don't want it to get infected." Elle wrapped some bandage around the wound.

"I'm fine. Are you hurt?" Alex answered, ignoring the stinging.

"No, I can take it I'm fine. More importantly; what the hell are we going to do now" Elle replied touched that he cared so much about her. They stayed silent for a moment, before Elle spoke again. "Do you still have the walkie talkie to Wheeler which I gave you?"

"Yes, I do, so what are we waiting for." Alex turned on the walkie talkie to try and contact Wheeler.

"Hey Alex, I don't have much time, they've taken your mother and I to the Overlook Penitentiary. It's the base of the Order! Hurry up!" Wheeler said in complete urgency, before he hung up.

"Elle, we'll have to hurry, god knows what's going on. I have a feeling we'll get answers here."

They made their way quickly to the penitentiary, through the dense fog covered streets. Elle's heart beat wildly as she could hear noises in through the deep fog, growling and scratching noises that gave her the strength to run even quicker.

Her repressed memories of her father were coming back together like the pieces of a jigsaw. She used to think of him as a caring and wonderful father, in reality he was; until she grew older. He then became her greatest nightmare, 24/7. She used to try and fight back, but he told her that if she refused, Nora would suffer the same as her, she had to protect her younger sister, so eventually she stopped fighting back. Elle was begining to feel glad that he died. She thought of her father, and then Alex's father. Both weren't perfect parents. In fact they were far from it. Cruel, disgusting and evil men who abused their own children. They were abused in different ways, but Alex and Elle, both suffered hugely. Their physical scars had mostly faded, but some scars were much more painful and harder to get rid of. These were the scars they still had, the deep emotional scars. As they ran, she looked at Alex'sworried face through the thick fog. She had to confide in him about her father, but she had to wait for the right time.

They made it into the penitentiary; Alex forced open the heavy door with his muscular body. 3 hideous faceless and emaciated nurses with rotting flesh were waiting for them the other side. They ran towards them armed with knives, Alex swiped one through the throat with the ceremonial dagger, her legs twisted as she fell to the floor. Elle whacked another in the skull with the crowbar; she smashed to the floor like a bean bag cushion. The last one slashed Elle in the arm with her knife, Elle gritted her teeth. Alex wildly stabbed the final nurse like a pin cushion.

"Elle, sit down now."Alex commanded in a fim but compassionate voice. She obliged and sat on a step, he sat next to her; he took off her jacket and wrapped a bandage around her cut.

"It's ok Alex, the coat took up most of the damage and it's just a cut." Elle said trying to stop Alex from worrying, she had a high pain threshold, she could take it.

"No, we aren't superheroes Elle; we can get really badly hurt." Alex said. He rammed home to Elle that they were only human. They could be killed very easily.

He helped her up. Because of her father she usually felt uncomfortable having any physical contact with a man, but Alex was different, he wasn't seedy or agressive, he was respectful and thoughtful. She felt comfort from his warm body and unbeknownst to her, he felt it from her as well. As a boy he only really felt trully safe or happy around her, and throughout this horrible ordeal, his feelings for her had swiftly returned, even stronger than they were before. Every time he looked into her striking azure eyes his heartbeat rose wildly. And every time she comforted him, stroking his neck with her soft hands, his body turned into jelly.

They continued to make their way through the labyrinth of rooms. The rooms were full of mutilated and brutalised corpses and rusty girders and walls. They came into the prison cafeteria, it was abandoned, the constant putrid stench of rotten flesh was strongest in this room. Bugs crawled everywhere. Alex and Elle went into a frenzy of stamping, as they crushed the life out of the angry bugs, explosions of blood filled the air. They then noticed the room, it started to peel, the otherworld was underneath, it started to morph the room like hot clay. They ran for the door, Alex ran out but the change was complete before Elle left, the door disappeared. Elle screamed in rage as she began hitting the door in anger.

"Elle, it's me Alex, I can't get to you now, but I promise you I'll find a way, I'm never going to leave you." Alex's emotional words calmed Elle, but as soon as they stopped, Elle's panic gauge exploded again.

She had to find Alex; he was the only one who she could rely on. She couldn't stay in this horrible room any longer, she left promptly, storming out of the other door. Elle was all alone, in the most disturbing place in the world, a rusty, bloody and industrial world of monsters and murder.

"Think of it as a haunted house, like the one in the Lakeside Amusement Park" Elle thought, trying to rationalise herself.

_

* * *

_

A corpse fell down from the ceiling. Elle jumped. Alex barely shuddered and even laughed.

_"This is just freaky. Where's the exit Alex? I wanna go!" Elle nagged Alex. He gave in to her, and they left the haunted house. They were at Lakeside Amusement Park, the best theme park in the area, it was the opposite side of Toluca lake. It was getting late, they'd have to leave soon, the huge crowds were slowly flooding out, leaving the huge rides and little stalls and sideshows._

_"How old are you, 17 or 7? I could take your sister in there and she probably wouldn't be as scared as you were! You were scared in the line outside for goodness sake!" Alex said frustrated._

_"Well next time, don't drag me in there ok. I don't like people jumping out and scaring the living daylights out of me." _

_"Ok then, what rid do you want to go on now? How about that roller coaster again?"_

_"Yeah, wait... how about we go on the Ferris wheel; it'll give us a nice view of the town. We have been on that roller coaster 5 times today!" Elle said._

_"Uhh... Ferris wheels are boring. I think we should go on the roller coaster again." Alex said, the most unconvincing lie Elle had ever heard._

_"You're scared of heights aren't you...? Finally! I've found out what Action Man is scared of. Ha-ha! You dragged me through that haunted house, so you're coming on that Ferris wheel with me." Elle said mockingly, Alex always acted fearless and teased Elle for being scared of stupid stuff, she now knew his fear. It was perfect ammunition to tease him about. "Hey Alex, let's go up these stairs then... wait are they too high for you?" Elle said playfully. She took Alex's arm and half dragged him onto the Ferris wheel. He looked terrified. They went into a carriage and sat down. Alex buried his head in his seat. _

_"Elle, I seriously want to kill you now." Alex said, the seat muffling his voice slightly._

_"How amazing would it be if the ride broke down when we were at the top?" Elle said; the teasing continued._

_"Don't say that!" Alex said gravely. _

_The ride finished, Alex ran off as pale as white flour. Elle smiled and ran after him. _

_"Sorry Alex, I didn't know you were that scared of it." Elle said sincerely._

_"Don't worry; I'm like that with you all the time." Alex then had a go of the coconut shy, he got a very high score (his baseball skills came in handy), but needed to get the highest score with his last ball to win the top prize. Elle took the ball. _

_"Hello, I'm one of the top players on the softball team!" Elle said as she hurled the ball, she got the top score. They won a huge "Robbie the Rabbit" doll, Alex carried it for Elle. _

_"Man! That rabbit is super freaky looking. He really looks evil. I'm not so sure if I want to keep him in my room. Would your brother like him? I don't think Nora would, and she's already got that huge stuffed catepillar" Elle said._

_"Hey! Maybe I want it!" Alex said sarcastically._

_"Very funny. I bet your room is full of stuffed animals." Elle joked to him. Alex smiled back, keeping it secret that he still kept his__ stuffed koala_

_"Yeah, I'd be frightened if he moved in the night. Yeah, Josh wouldn't mind him, and his birthday is coming up. How about we say it's a joint present." Alex said. _

_"Alex, we're always going to be friends right?" Elle asked._

_"Of course. I think we're always going to be close." _

* * *

She laughed bitterly about what he said to her then as she continued walking through the nightmare world. Elle came across a corpse, who had been stabbed repeatedly and left in a pool of their blood. She looked at the body, it looked weirdly familiar, as she moved the pale blonde hair out of the corpse's eyes, she realised that the body was her!

"No, I can't be dead. Calm down Elle... be brave, what would Alex say? It has to be just some sick joke this town is playing on me, I have to be strong." She thought as she glanced at the corpse and then made her way down the corridor. Silent Hill was a pretty messed up town, just like Shepherd's Glen was. She clutched her pistol tightly in her hands. People before her must have survived Silent Hill, so she knew they must have been a way to do it. She had to be a strong woman, like her mother was.

Static. The noise ripped through Elle's ears. She raised her pistol. It was coming towards her, a human like creature with knife like arms and legs. And a severed head between its legs. It scarpered across the iron floor as quick as a spider. It swung for her with its legs; she ducked them and rolled underneath it. And rose the crowbar up into the soft and fleshy torso. The monster lost balance and collapsed to the floor, as if it skid on ice. Elle swung down again with the crowbar onto the creature's cranium. It stopped moving. Elle sighed in relief.

But the static was still going strong. She felt slime slobber and cascade down on her; she looked up at the dark ceiling. Her torch shone intensely into the unknown. 3 more of the knife limbed monsters were on the ceiling. Circling her patiently. They all leaped down from the ceiling. Elle ran. They pursued her. Her heart beat like Morse code. She couldn't fight them all here. She ran into the women's bathroom, through a tiny door. The monsters struggled to get through the door. Elle got out her assault rifle and fire like a psychopath. Raining bullets into the crushed monsters. They yelled out of their shredded mouths.

They all fell to the floor in quick succession with a horrible squishing noise. Elle stood out of breath for a moment. But one of the monsters wasn't dead. It got back up and clambered towards Elle, who dodged its sharp limbs and backed into a toilet cubicle that was draped in blood and rotten meat. She climbed onto the toilet and began firing pistol rounds down at the beasts soft torso. Recoil shuddered her aim. But soon the monster was dead for good. She ran out of the cubicle quickly because the smell was revolting.

She found a journal in a sink nearby. She picked it up and skimmed through. It was written by a doctor at Alchemillia Hospital. It said about how to produce a drug from flowers, and boasted about how he sexually exploited a beautiful nurse. All it said of interest to Elle was that he believed that the monsters of Silent Hill were physical manifestations of a person's individual psychological problems and fears. Elle shuddered; she didn't care about a stupid journal or what it was doing in the women's toilets right now. She discarded it to the floor.

She then left the claustrophobic bathroom and began walking through the distorted prison again. She kept on passing mutilated bodies on the dull metallic and fleshy floor. The light of her clip on flashlight made her feel safe in the darkness around her. She spent what seemed like forever walking through the penitentiary.

Out of the blue, she suddenly heard a familiar girlish giggling noise down the corridor. She turned and saw Nora reading Alice in Wonderland. She hadn't aged a day; she still had her short pale blonde hair and innocent smile. She was dressed in a bright green dress and had a hair band in her hair. Happy and relaxed, Nora was completely blissfully ignorant of the terror and misery of the otherworld around her. Elle shouted to Nora. Nora got up, threw her book to the floor and started to run, laughing.

"Catch me if you can!" Nora said playfully, daring Elle to follow her. Elle had to reach her sister, even if it meant following her games. Nora opened a nearby door and ran in, shutting the door behind her Elle kicked down the door and ran in.

The room was bare. Nora wasn't in there. A hole was in the middle of the room. Elle shone her flashlight at the wall, frenzied words were painted on, in blood. "Dare Eleanor Holloway travel down the rabbit hole?"

"How does this place know my name." Elle thought as she shone her torch down into the blackness of the hole. She couldn't see the bottom. She knew it would be suicidal to jump down there, but she needed to find Nora. She jumped down the hole. And entered blackness. After an unknown period of time Elle found herself on the floor. She had landed, and thankfully she wasn't injured.

She got up and looked at the room around her. It wasn't rusty or bloody like the rest of the otherworld. It was like a peaceful forest, full of plants and water. A Ray of raw sunlight shone down from a hole in the ceiling. She noticed a figure lying peacefully on the floor. Nora! Elle ran towards her and tapped her. Then realised what was wrong. Nora was resting forever. Elle collapsed onto her knees and buried her head in her hands. And time seemed to stay still. She stayed there. She held Nora's hand, it wasn't cold and dry. It was warm and soft.

She said muted goodbyes to her sister. And made herself not cry, Nora always didn't like Elle crying. Soon a small caterpillar crawled onto Nora's resting body. Elle was about to flick it off her, when suddenly, it turned into a beautifully coloured butterfly. It hovered in front of Elle for a moment, before it fluttered upwards into the light. Elle stood silent for a moment, before saying her final goodbyes.

She looked up at the hole she fell down. A ladder was now there! She quickly climbed it. She left the tranquility of the room to go back into the bitterness and hostility of the otherworld. After she climbed out of the hole she left the room, not noticing that the writing on the wall had gone.

"Didn't I warn you that pretty women like yourself shouldn't wander around alone?" Curtis Acker's said in a detached voice. He had laid in wait for her like the disgusting predator he was. Elle drew her pistol and began to back away from him. "Oh, are you going to shoot me. You don't have the guts. You may have killed all those mindless monsters and shot a gun. But inside you're still a little girl who's terrified of daddy." Elle was shocked, how did he know about her father? She only remembered herself earlier.

He swaggered towards her calmly. Elle raised her pistol at him, and tried to pull the trigger. But she couldn't, she wasn't a murderer after all. He grinned and came closer. He pushed her up against a wall, her face rubbed painfully against the rust. He had a look in his eyes, a look that Elle remembered all to familiar from her father, she was not going to let it happen again. She whacked him in the chest with the crowbar. He yelped and stumbled. She took the opportunity to slow him down more and shot him in the leg. He howled in shock .

She sprinted crazily down the warped stairwell. He slowly limped after her, screaming profanities at her. She refused to turn round. She ran into Wheeler and Alex on the stairwell. Wheeler was beaten up pretty badly, and Alex looked messed up, physically and emotionally.

"Alex! Curtis is chasing me! We better go somewhere else." Elle said urgently. Wheeler stayed silent. Alex was shaking wildly. Elle hugged him comfortingly.

"Elle...my...my...mom died...I saw her being...to...tortured...I shot her to put her out of her misery. But before that, she told me that she always loved me." Alex stuttered heartbrokenly. Elle felt his grip tighten around her as he buried his head into her chest. It hurt her hugely to see Alex like this. He was about to continue speaking when Wheeler interrupted.

"I'm so sorry, but we're going to have to go now! The order is coming. And I think I can hear Judge Holloway over there." Wheeler said sensitively.

Alex and Elle immediately broke out of their misery as all 3 of them ran into a massive room. Margaret Holloway was tied up. All of the Order except Curtis was crowded around her. Elle was about to scream to her mother, when suddenly they was a crash through a wall. And a massive monster emerged. A bizarre throng of female bodies fused together like a perverted daisy chain with a tangled mass of hands and arms emerging from it. Like some sick and twisted caterpillar. It slithered across the floor and began grabbing the order with its arms, and strangling them. It discarded the corpses to the floor like used drink cartons.

Elle and Alex stood astonished as the creature massacred the entire Order in just over a minute. The monster then came slithering towards Margaret Holloway. Wheeler and Elle started shooting at it. Alex just stood there for a moment, completely blank, before he began to shoot as well. Wheeler ran at it, trying to draw its attention away from Margaret. It clattered towards Wheeler. Elle yanked Alex's axe from his back and sprinted towards her mother, she hacked through the ropes and helped her mother up. But Elle didn't have time to chit chat, she signalled her mother to run, which she did with no hesitation.

The monster lifted up Wheeler and threw him out of a window. He yelled as he fell to his death. The monster then came towards Elle. Alex couldn't lose her; he fired wildly at the monster with his shotgun. Green slime came out of its mouth as it screamed loudly and femininely. Elle drew her assault rifle and burst into the creature. The monster continued to screech as they continued to fire. Shit! They both had to reload. The monster grabbed Alex and gave him a massive bear hug, Elle could hear the life squeeze out of him. She took his Axe and swung down at the monsters tail. It dropped Alex and was stunned momentarily. Twitching wildly. Alex grabbed the hands around its face and ripped them apart. The monster gasped as it breathed in air and smashed to the floor, before withering into a husk.

Alex and Elle stood silent for a moment. Elle deduced how Alex killed the monster. She read in that journal that she discovered earlier that the monsters were manifestations and literal symbolism. This creature must have symbolised suffocation, so by giving the monster air, it died.

"Oh my god. Poor Wheeler, he died because of us." Elle said upset.

"Don't say that Elle, he died a hero. I've known him long enough to know he wouldn't have wanted it any other way." Alex said. Alex and Elle both knew Wheeler since they were kids, and thought the world of him. Realistically they both would have burst out in tears, but after all they had been through since Alex returned, they couldn't.

"We got to find my mom now. She could know what the Order was planning." Elle said.

"Elle, when we were separated I met my father too. He begged me to forgive him for the way he was... he said that him and mom always wanted to love me, but couldn't. I forgave him...then this big pyramid headed monster appeared and killed him." Alex said, too drained to get emotional. Elle consoled him tenderly.

"Thank you... for being such a great friend. Once we get your mom, we'll leave this dump. We'll never come back." Alex said.

"You were the best friend a girl could have, maybe we could move in together or something." Elle said. She had often dreamed about her life if she lived with Alex. He wished this would happen. They eventually let go of each other and began searching for Elle's mother.

Suddenly they were both ambushed from behind and knocked unconscious.

* * *

**That's all for now. They sure must be getting used to being knocked unconscious.**

**Hope you enjoyed reading it guys.**


	7. Torture and the Truth

**Hey again guys. Here's another chapter, it explains lots, so they is a hell of a lot of dialogue in the first half!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Silent Hill or anything related to it.**

* * *

Alex and Elle woke up, chained to the wall. Curtis Ackers watched over them.

"You're ok!" Alex grunted; ravaged, beaten and tired, his lazy eye playing up.

"What happened?" Elle moaned, struggling against her throbbing body.

"Curtis knocked us out." Alex shivered hysterically. This upset Elle, as he was usually cool as a cucumber. Curtis walked towards Elle, a grin from ear to ear.

"Ever heard of flossing." Elle said, looking at his green, decaying teeth. He ignored her.

"It's a shame to do such bad things, to such a lovely girl." Curtis said, his words like maggots crawling underneath her skin.

"Go anywhere near her and I'll break every bone in your body one by one!" Alex yelled, his pallid face bright red, a vein throbbing out of his neck.

"Ever watched The Deliverance Alex? When I'm done with her...I'm going to make you squeal like a pig!" Curtis said. Waves of fear crashed through Alex's body; he had watched The Deliverance.

"So you're leader of the Order." Elle deduced.

"I am."Said the very familiar voice; of Margaret Holloway. Elle was dumbfounded. The very woman who had given birth to her! Margaret walked towards them, face devoid of emotion.

"What the hell! Mom, what's going on! Nora is..." Elle said angrily.

"Dead. I strangled her with my bare hands." Ice frosted over Margaret's words.

"You sick bitch, you're not joking are you!" Elle yelled angrily at her.

"Her life... a small price to pay, to secure the safety of the town." Margaret said.

"Since when does killing an innocent girl keep the town safe?" Alex asked, boiling up inside.

"You insolent children need a history lesson. 150 years ago, the 4 founding families of Shepherd's Glen broke away from Silent Hill, the Order and the demon they worshipped, to set up our town. Good intentions, but you see, they were frightened of angering the demon. They all agreed to each make a small personal sacrifice every 50 years." Alex and Elle's stomachs sank deep through the floor; the cogs in their heads had worked it all out.

"One of their children, killed by their own hands" Margaret added.

"Why has everything gone crazy?" Alex needed to know more.

"You're stupid father didn't follow the ritual, the demon wanted to punish the town. I took it upon myself to save us."

"By restarting a murderous cult!" Elle spat. Margaret slapped her hard in the face. Elle was shocked.

"Don't interrupt me! By restarting the Order I'm saving town, enslaving the few who listen to reason...and sacrificing all those fools who don't." Margaret said.

"Mom you psycho!"

"I need you to carry on the family, you understand? That's why I chose Nora to die; all those silly books she read made her buy into the stupid ideas of good and evil."

"You don't control me, you aren't my mother; you stopped being it a while ago. I'd rather die than help you! You murdering bitch! You should be locked up in a padded cell!" Elle had never been so mad in her life.

"Maybe I should've just stood back and let your father do what he wanted with you that night, I mean I should have took a page out of Lillian Shepherd's book." Margaret and Curtis laughed, Elle stayed silent with disgust and Alex imploded in rage.

"At least my mother didn't strangle me!" He shouted.

"At least I did something to protect my child, not just stand back and watch my husband beat them black and blue." Margaret countered. Curtis grabbed Alex, sitting him down on a chair; Margaret picked up a cordless drill and walked towards him. Curtis went towards Elle smiling.

"I'll give you two something to cry about. Curtis, show my daughter the price of disobedience." Margaret said, the little of her maternal instincts had vanished. "Elle, you're not my daughter, none of my blood, only that of your weakling father."

"I know I'm no way like you! Or him!" Elle screeched, her knuckles white.

"I had him killed to protect you and Nora, one of you needed to be sacrificed. He was shot in the head; we pretended it was a suicide." Margaret added, almost matter of factly. Elle's head exploded, all this information was coming at once.

"I hate you!" Elle yelled.

"I trusted you. You treated me better than my own parents did. I thought you were good." Alex said, trying to muster calmness, but inside his heart was in shreds.

Margaret ignored him, hovering the drill over his thigh.

"You two know nothing of the world, both badly raised. I tried to raise you as your own person Elle, while still instilling into you the importance of family. You two disobedient children still believe in good and evil. When there's only chaos... and order." Margaret increased in volume.

"You don't need to do this." Alex said, trying to bury his fear.

"Maybe not, but disobedient children need to be disciplined." Margaret grinned manically. The woman she may or may not have ever been was dead.

She shoved the drill through his thigh muscle, blood shot out. He let out the most agonising scream Elle had ever heard. Curtis shoved the buzz saw deep into Elle's shoulder; pain rushed through her body like never before. She screamed, but didn't give up, she resisted. Curtis scratched her in the face, drawing blood. He unbuckled his belt, while still sawing through her shoulder. He tried ripping through her clothes.

Margaret continued to drill into Alex. He thought of Elle, Josh and Nora, that gave him the strength to wrestle her to the floor. He untied himself and ran to defend Elle. He swung the crowbar into Curtis's head. Alex untied Elle while Curtis lay stunned, until he got back up and began to attack Alex.

"Is this all you got? I thought you could take a beating. "Curtis pinned Alex to the floor. Alex was too tired, hurt, upset and frightened to get out of Curtis' grip. "Remember what I said about The Deliverance." Curtis added with a perverse grin.

Elle couldn't let it happen; she fisted Curtis in the jaw, and kneed him in the groin. He stumbled on top of her, pounding her to the floor, he bit deeply into her arm.

"I'll put a smile back on your face. Don't be nervous; call me Daddy if it makes you more comfortable." Curtis said, his repressed lust sinking every word.

Blood squirted everywhere; Elle shoved his bleeding corpse off her as she got up. Alex had slashed his throat clean open with the ceremonial dagger. They took a closer look at the body; his head had been almost severed, watching as his nearly dead body twitched and murmured dully. Until it stiffened.

He may not have looked as (relatively) hideous as the monsters Elle and Alex encountered, but he was more of a monster.

Margaret Holloway arose, instantly attacking her daughter with the drill. Elle grappled for her life, the adrenaline pouring through her muscles. She turned the drill back on Margaret.

"For Nora!" Elle rammed the drill through her mother's skull, she screamed before her synapses splattered into the walls.

Alex lifted Elle up; both soaked in blood, the gravity of what they had done had yet to sink them into the quick sands of guilt. They picked up their weapons, and headed for the exit, following a trail of blood which instincts demanded they follow.

It led to the founding families' crypt room, they searched for the most recent additions, in morbid curiosity. Elle turned to Alex; he was on the floor crying uncontrollably. She checked the coffin he was looking at. She read in the gothic letters... Alex Shepherd.

Alex was the sacrifice! Not Josh! Elle hugged Alex; he held tightly onto her for what seemed like forever. She had only seen him cry about a handful of times (although he had seen her cry roughly 70 times) which made it worse for her, but she had to hold back tears herself and look strong otherwise it would make things worse, he started to speak, but was struggling through tears and had to stop and start again.

"That's why they couldn't love me... they couldn't bear to love a child who they would have to kill." Alex started to cry again. Elle couldn't bear to see him like this; she buried his head into her chest and rubbed his back gently. They lay in the crypt for over an hour without speaking, Elle comforted him continuously. He huddled against her, held firmly in her arms. His wide shivering shoulders knocked into her chest. She stroked his hair softly. Elle thought it was a strange sight, a muscular and strong looking man who was 6'2, huddled on the floor, crying wildly and shivering in the arms of a slight young woman. Elle admired him even more for this, he wasn't afraid to show his feelings. The only noises heard during this time were the cries of Alex which eventually numbed down.

"Josh is dead. I took him boating on Toluca Lake, we argued, he lost balance and drowned. I had a breakdown. Dad sent me to a mental hospital; I stayed there for 2 years. I wasn't in a military hospital. Mom and Dad told everyone I enlisted." Alex said, still with his head buried in Elle's chest.

"Your dog tags say "A Shepherd" on them." Elle pointed at the dog tags around his neck.

"They were Dad's. Not mine."

Elle couldn't believe what he was telling her, she was amazed that firstly that was what happened, and secondly that he was so selfless and strong enough to drive forward past that to save himself and her. She couldn't tell him about her father now.

The walls peeled. The otherworld was back. Out of nowhere a rotting and waterlogged corpse appeared, it grew 8 massive spider-like mechanical legs and began to scurry towards them. It swiped its knife limbs at them; they jumped out of its path.

Alex yanked out his shotgun and sprayed shells at its main body, it screamed in agony. Elle took her assault rifle and started shooting flurries of bullets at the monster. A leg came close to her, she whacked it off with her crowbar; Alex followed her idea and hacked another off with his axe.

The monster fell forwards, but carried on moving towards them, spitting a huge arc of putrid bile over them, they threw their coats off and carried on the fight. Alex blew off two legs with a shotgun shell. The monster attacked Alex, it knocked him to the floor, and was about to impale him with a sharp leg, Elle shot it off with her assault rifle. Alex fired another shotgun shell which broke another leg. The monster had only two legs left. It moved to them, clattering along metal floor. It knocked Elle into the wall. Elle looked up to see Alex in a frenzy; blasting the corpses head off with half a dozen shotgun shells, the monster hit the floor dead.

Elle ran over to Alex as he cut open the corpse. Josh's corpse was inside. Alex fell to his knees by it.

"I'll leave you alone for a moment." Elle left the room, she'd said goodbye to Nora, he needed to say goodbye to Josh.

The otherworld faded into nothingness. Elle went outside onto the main street of Silent Hill. All the fog had gone, the town was abandoned, but normal, it was cloudy, but not ashen.

She leapt in the air rejoicing, her heart racing with relief. Birds flew above her singing sweetly; real birds! She hadn't seen a real bird since the fog began!

10 minutes later Alex reappeared; solemn and reserved; much like he had been the first day they ever met. As soon as he saw her, he laughed. She did the same; they ran into each other's arms amongst a wave of euphoria. His powerful arms wrapped around her slight shoulders as she put her soft hands though his thick hair. But their adrenaline was staring to run low, their wounds would hurt like 7 shades of hell.


	8. Sharing the Pain

They needed to rest urgently, or risk not making it back to civilisation. Alex knew where to go; the Grand Hotel; now a jumble of luxury and dilapidation.

They headed straight for the largest suite; pricey antique beds, wardrobes, drawers and coffee tables; all caked in a layer of dust.

Alex collapsed onto a bed; looking away from the crimson paper that clung to the walls, he imagined the walls were bleeding onto his hands.

Elle sat next to him; applying antiseptic to his gaping thigh wound, courtesy of the drill; he shouted profanities she was surprised he knew!

"Are you doing this on purpose?" Alex gritted his teeth.

"You want an infection?" Elle asked, tying a mass of bandages around his thigh, before moving on to his relatively minor wounds.

She took off her coat. Alex treated her minor wounds while doing his best not to stare at her breasts. He applied antiseptic to the huge wound (exposing her bone) on her shoulder from the buzz saw; she did her best to ignore the stinging. He then bandaged it up.

They crashed asleep. Neither had slept for two days

Elle woke up first. Her body rigid as she staggered out of the bed. She stared down at Alex's tall, powerful sleeping body. He hadn't always been like that, for years he was short, and painfully scrawny; around fourteen he began to grow, by sixteen his father didn't dare beat him anymore, he was a bully; he didn't hit any one bigger than him. But all of Alex's muscle didn't protect him from the emotional abuse that continued.

She inspected herself in the bathroom mirror. A mess; her hair like a crow's nest; tangled and dirty, her face was covered in grime and dust, saturated in cuts and bruises, her clothes creased and tattered. She took a shower, dirty bloody water swirled down the drain.

Alex awoke to Elle crying. He tried to run into the bathroom. But huge pain shot down his thigh, the adrenaline had worn off. He limped slowly into the bathroom; Elle was washing her red and raw hands repeatedly, sobbing to herself. Alex turned the tap off. Elle broke down even more.

"I'm a murderer!" Elle screeched; the gravity of what they had done had finally sunk in.

"She would have killed both of us. The only reason she kept us safe all these years was for this stupid ritual." Alex said, in a surprisingly calm and comforting voice, leading her out and onto the bed, his arm around her shoulder.

"That's the thing. I'm like her, I killed someone, and I don't feel anything."

Alex continued to comfort her, his soft and quiet voice slowed her heartbeat and stopped her tears.

"I know what a monster is. You're not a monster. The years I had to hide dad getting mad and beating me for no reason, mom not doing anything to stop it. And then seeing them love Josh, while being so cold and distant to me. I had to act tough, when I felt like curling up in the corner and dying. But if anyone said to me I could live my life again, with parents who cared for me, I wouldn't do it if you wouldn't be there. That's the truth."

He grasped her hand softly. They had both lost so much and after all what they had been through the most important thing to Alex was Elle, and the most important thing to Elle was Alex. They huddled into each other; they were the two frightened and abused children that they had been. Elle calmed down.

"The day you left, I felt like I lost a limb. You were the only person who I could count on. Even though all we've done together since you're back is hide and fight monsters, I still feel like that part of me has returned, you just make me feel so happy." Elle said.

"You're my soul mate."

"You've been mine too." She stalled before continuing. "I'm going to tell you something that's really upsetting for me, is that ok with you?" Elle asked, he nodded as they rested on the bed.

"My dad... I used to pretend he was a nice guy, but he wasn't, he was a manic depressive with awful mood swings, who eventually turned to the bottle. He used to be aggressive to my mom sometimes when he got drunk, sometimes I saw it, she always tried to protect me. But when I got a bit older, he started to... force me to do stuff." Elle had to stop; she was struggling to hold herself back from crying.

Alex began stroking her hair softly; he remembered that that used to calm her down. He was always so thoughtful. She started to talk again.

"He used to hurt me if I tried to fight back, one time he smashed a beer bottle in my face. He then started telling me that if I told anyone or tried to fight back, that he would do the same to Nora." Elle said in tatters. Alex squeezed his arms against her trembling body."One night when he started on me, my mom caught him and threatened to call the police unless he left and never came back, he left, but threatened to kill us. Earlier mom told us that she had him shot to protect us and pretended it was a suicide." She lay on Alex's chest; completely emotionally drained.

"I know it's painful. But you're going to make yourself ill. So take a deep breath in... and out. That's the way to do it, keep on doing that. You're a strong woman; we can get out of this. Because I know we can. We're gonna be getting some real good karma, just think of that. You're safe with me. I'm never going to leave you." Alex said, consoling Elle tenderly.

She just listened to him, they began drifting to sleep. She tried to leave his arms, so that they could have some personal space. But he held onto her tightly. He needed comforting too. He never wanted to let go of her. After all that had happened to him, he felt safe and comforted in her arms. Elle didn't complain because she felt the same.

They fell back to sleep. They'd lost all their family, and their hometown, and had the two most horrible days of their life, but they had each other, and that was all they needed right now.

Elle awoke to Alex walking out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel.

"I could've awaked to a lot worse stuff" Elle thought, lying on the bed. Just like her he had bruises and cuts all over his body, but it didn't make him any less hotter she thought.

Elle felt guilty that they were too exhausted to mourn Wheeler's death. But she couldn't dwell on that at the moment, she had to move forward for now, and escape. She felt bad for it, but they had to escape first of all.

Alex came back in fully dressed and looking agitated. That was no surprise to Elle considering all that'd happened.

Alex kicked the coffee table over, it shattered. Elle's skeleton leaped out of her body and out the window.

"I hate them! It's their fault. If it weren't for them we wouldn't be in this mess!" Alex yelled, crying tears of rage. Elle jumped off the bed and ran closer to him.

"Who's fault is it?"

"Our parents. If it wasn't for them, none of this would have happened. I'm glad they're all dead! I hate all of them." Alex threw a glass into the wall, shards shot out in every direction.

"Alex... I know we've had it hard but..."

"My mom worshipped my brother, and never even acknowledged my existence, she just stayed back and watched dad beat me! And then uses the stupid sacrifice as an excuse for her being such an awful mom! Your mom was a psycho who killed God knows how many people, and tried to kill you! She only cared for you because she needed you to carry the family; you were like a battery hen to her! And... don't even get me started on our dad's!" Alex yelled. Elle put her arm around him, he calmed slightly.

"You can get angry and bitter about everything, you won't feel as upset for now, but the anger will just build up inside of. It'll fill up until you'll explode. You're better than that, I know you are." Elle said. His anger stopped, but his crying continued.

"What am I supposed to do?" Alex asked.

"Move on and maybe even forgive them when we're ready. Come on you know that better than anyone, you always inspired me with how you always moved on whatever happened when we were younger."

"I'm tired of moving on all the time. I just want to stay in one place. How can we forgive them, after all the misery they put us through?"

"I know it's hard, but we will have to forgive them all sometime." Elle said caringly. Alex began to calm down.

" You know, we wouldn't have survived all of that if it wasn't for you." Alex rubbed the last tears out of his eyes.

"It wasn't just me; I would have gone insane through that if it wasn't for you. We make a good team." Elle said.

"After all we've been through, neither, I don't care, even if you see me as just a friend, but I just got to tell you what I was too shy to tell you when we were in high school. I... I... love you, so much it's crazy. You're the most important person I've ever known." Elle's mind entered nirvana, was he actually saying this! She had wanted to tell him how she felt. How he was the most selfless, caring, gentle, witty, smart and handsome guy she had ever known, and that she adored him intensely ever since they first met. She was too speechless to answer in words,

"I'll answer in actions." Elle thought, kissing him passionately; Alex didn't protest.


	9. Aftercare

They'd just done what they'd dreamt of since they were fourteen.

"I hope he doesn't think I'm easy because I made the first move" Elle thought.

"Should I pull away first, or do I wait for her? I don't want to seem uninterested; or desperate. Should I tell her it's the first time I've ever been kissed, or is that just weird?" Alex thought.

Eventually they moved apart, both a bit too hot under the collar.

"We need to go now. We'll be in trouble unless we get proper medical attention. Can you walk ok?" Elle said, feeling slightly giddy.

"If we don't run it should be ok." Alex said, tactfully rubbing lip gloss off his mouth.

"Definitely beats the mood earlier though." Elle whispered to herself, as they went outside.

The fog had vanished, but murkiness remained. Raindrops kissed their fragile, shivering bodies. They'd left their coats in the hotel; too shredded to be of any use, so they were left in their T-shirts.

They considered going back inside and waiting till the it stopped, but it showed no sign of stopping and if they waited any longer they'd probably be dead. As the hours passed the buildings they passed vanished, trees took their place. Branches tapped against each other in the wind like bony fingers.

Euphoria jolted through them as they left the Silent Hill town limits. But as soon as it arrived, it'd vanished. They were in the middle of nowhere.

The rain went postal, shooting down like shell rounds. The angels must have been mourning.

"Don't cry angels!" Alex yelled in frustration and pain, pulling his soaking hair back from his face.

They staggered forward for hours, against the battering of the rain, wading weakly through the deep puddles, teeth chattering until their gums took hold, they stopped, doubled up on the side of the road, moaning in agony, praying that a car would go past.

Alex stared at Elle as she wrung the bottom of her T-shirt, water spluttered out. His own clothes stuck to him like an extra layer of skin. He'd never been so wet in his life; they may as well have jumped in a swimming pool fully clothed.

"If only her t-shirt was white." Alex thought to himself, even imagining that was too much of a struggle for his exhausted mind. They shivered, the wind grazing against their aching, saturated bodies.

A lane of emptiness continued forever, there was nowhere to shelter from the rain.

"We're dead. I can't believe it, we survive all that, and look at us!" Alex lamented, the battering of the rain only matched by the roaring of his stomach; every step had become a labour.

Elle was in just as bad a state, tensing her entire body until it stung, but it wasn't enough. She felt dead. Her cynical side agreed with him, they couldn't move much more and no cars had passed them.

"I still have the pistol." Elle said.

"You really want to do it?" Alex had considered it several times.

"I would think things could only get better, but we've both said that before and then look what happened." Elle said. Alex agreed, their young lives had been full of tragedy and misery.

"What would our families say?"Alex questioned.

"My mom would spout garbage, and my dad would make me go down into the basement alone with him!" Elle rarely got this angry; her head was a mess of hormones, heartache and hatred. Alex thought about what Elle said, his father would've probably called him a failure and thrown something heavy at him, and his mother would've just stayed silent.

"More importantly what would Nora and Josh say?" Alex said. Silence. Darkness engulfed their eyes as their pain pushed them unconscious.

_They lay on top of a picnic blanket, on top of a mountain in the clear night air. Crickets chirped merrily in tall trees that surrounded them. Elle reached for her camera to take a picture. Alex lay with his hands behind his head, staring at the bulbous moon that serenaded them and the hundreds of jewels embroiled carefully into the sky._

_"We all think we're so special and powerful, but then you see all this, and you feel really insignificant."Elle said as she lay on her back on the flat grass._

_"I know what you mean. It makes you want to go and see everything out there." Alex replied._

_They'd gone to see an asteroid shower, alone. Margaret was hesitant about allowing her daughter to go, but Elle managed to persuade her, they were 18 after all._

_"There are so many things out there I want to do and I won't get to do even half of them, because I'm just a small town girl." Elle said. Alex began to open his mouth, when Elle cut in. "Alex! Don't even think of breaking out into song! I value my sense of hearing." Elle joked._

_"I wasn't dreaming of it. And obviously you're the next Christina Aguilera!" Alex said dryly._

_"Well, yes I am. Haven't you heard my amazing cover version of Fighter?" Elle said._

_"About nine times." Alex smiled back. _

_"You're obviously blessed." Elle said. She was kicking herself for not bringing a jacket now; her "I Love New York" t-shirt wasn't keeping her that warm, Alex could see this, he took of his jacket and gave it to her._

_"I'm fine seriously, it's my fault. Thanks though." Elle said, handing it back to him. She was cold, but she wasn't pathetic._

_"At least take my sweater then. It's too hot." Alex said. He had done the opposite to Elle; he wore a t-shirt, a sweater and a leather jacket. He passed her his sweater and put his jacket back on._

_"His sweater even smells of him." Elle thought to herself, before realising how stalker-ish it sounded._

_"You know when the CIA recruits me as a super spy travelling all over the world fighting crazy bad guys to stop them from achieving world domination; you can hide in my suitcase." Alex joked._

_"Oh that's going to happen, isn't it Mr Bond." Elle said._

_"The name is Shepherd. Alex Shepherd" Alex said in his best Sean Connery impression. Elle laughed at him. "Elle, the shower is starting!" Alex yelled._

_Elle looked up at asteroids dropping down like petals falling off a rose. The lay in awe until the shower stopped._

_"That was amazing." Elle said._

_"I told you you'd enjoy it when I dragged you along." Alex replied. Silence._ _"When we leave for university, we're still going to be best friends?" Alex said._

_"Of course, our phone bills are going to be huge!" Elle said; they laughed._

_His love for Elle was spreading; he had to tell her how he felt otherwise he would fall victim to it and die._

_"I got something I've been trying to tell you. I can't think of a way to say now...but can we meet up again the day after tomorrow, I'll think of a way by then." Alex said, his heart bouncing, awaiting a response._

_"Yes! I mean... of course you can. How about really early like 6am!" Elle said eagerly, she knew he was finally going to say how he felt for her._

_"Good, I would've said tomorrow night, but I'm taking Josh out on the lake in the boat." Alex said._

_The rest of the night was wonderful, Elle thought. She'd anticipated when he would confess his love to her. She waited for him that day at 6am on her porch in the pouring rain, not realising Josh was already dead, and that she wouldn't see Alex for two years._

Elle and Alex were awoken on the side of the road, by a dark haired man dressed like a stereotypical trucker, but his face was different, not tired, old and lonely; he looked like he'd been through a lot, his eyes told that, but he looked at ease, happy and compassionate, Elle put him in his early forties, but a good forty at that. He seemed to know Alex somehow, Elle was in too much pain to inquire how or why.

The man went to his truck for a moment, Elle and Alex noticed that the pistol was gone.

"You don't think they took it do you?" Elle whispered over the rain which had only just calmed slightly.

"Josh...Nora." Alex said quietly. Elle nodded, and for what seemed like the hundredth time since they were reunited less than three days ago, they were silent, deep in thought.

The man returned, he carried Elle and Alex into his truck, taking them to the nearest hospital in Brahms. Alex and Elle rested on each other on the back seat; barely able to talk due to the deluding pain.

Elle knew Travis was married, she could see his wedding ring. She glanced around at the photos and children's pictures which saturate the walls. They were of the Travis, an attractive woman around his age and children, who she deduced were his wife and kids; a happy family.

"Could we ever have that?" Elle thought, the we being her and Alex. She lay on Alex's shoulder trying to avoid putting weight on her own.

After what seemed like days but was only 10 minutes they arrived in Brahms Hospital, thank God they both had health insurance. The staff placed them both on stretchers and separated them; Elle sank down onto hers and fell unconscious.

Elle woke up in the white and sterile hospital. The starched artificial light shining down onto her. Then the hospital began to change, the walls peeled off, revealing the otherworld she now knew all too familiar.

She shouted for help, but no one came. Screeches of static penetrated her eardrums, she fell out of bed, took her weapons and investigated. She shone a torch at a wall; which the shadow of a nurse behind her. Elle swung the crowbar through its face (or lack of one), slicing it clean off.

The static continued. More nurses clambered towards her. The clattering of their heels creating sparks on the iron floor. Elle turned off her light, and hid in the corner, the spark came painfully close to her and stopped.

Elle held her breath. And held it. Her lungs screaming for oxygen. She needed to breathe. The nurses eventually carried on past her. She took this opportunity to evade them and go into another room.

She continued her search for Alex, when a massive ape creature covered in bondage tape burst through the door, buffeting her to the floor. She rolled out of the way, firing assault rifle rounds into his face. To little effect. She got back up and ran behind it., noticing a female form fixed to the back of it. The ape swung his heavy fists at Elle; slamming her to the ground again.

She couldn't get up. The ape began flailing his fists down in a final blow when the female form on his back seemed to take control, he was stunned in place. Elle shot him once in the head with a pistol round. It hit the floor dead.

She carried on running through the corridors, until she found Alex bloody corpse slumped against the wall. She screamed in anger and sadness. And continued running down the corridor, she didn't care about living anymore.

She met the attention of a group of nurses and went wild with her assault rifle, emptying as many rounds into the crowd as she could. She then took her pistol, and used that. Dozens of dead nurses lay on the floor. But more were amassing around her. One bullet was left. She used it on herself.

Elle woke up screaming, in a small, sanitary hospital room, connected to an IV drip, shivering uncontrollably. A nurse ran in to check on her.

"Another night terror?" The kind nurse asked.

"Yeah. How long have I been here?" Elle wiped puddles of sweat from her brow.

"Two weeks, You've mostly healed, that shoulder wound is still pretty nasty, so the doctor had prescribed pain killers."

"Thanks. What about my friend?" Elle asked, praying that Alex was still alive.

"Like you, he was in a bad state, but he's improved. You can meet up in a few days if you want." The prospect filled Elle with excitement.

The day arrived when they could meet again. The sun shone onto their light starved skin. They were sat together on a bench in the hospital garden; both looked as good as new besides some faint scars and bruises.

"When can you be discharged? I can be let out next week if I want to." Elle started off conversation.

"About the same time. I was thinking about using some of the inheritance to finally go to college. Somewhere far away from Shepherd's Glen." That was Alex, after all this trauma and tragedy, he was still moving forward.

Both Alex and Elle inherited everything from their parents as they were the only next of kin. And both of them were surprised that they actually got quite a bit of money; roughly $800,000.

"That's a good idea. I could do the same. We both got lots of points when we graduated, remember." Elle said.

There was then a slight pregnant silence. Alex broke it

"Remember what I said in the hotel. That was the truth. I really love you. And if it got awkward when we started kissing, I'm sorry, but that's how I feel."

"Of course I love you. I nearly gave up on love when you were away. And now you've then you came back. Of course I want you. I love everything about you. And top it off your the hottest guy I've ever met." She finally told him how she felt.

They fell into the others arms.


	10. A Life Together

**Here it is folks. The last chapter of the story. I just had to give Elle and Alex the happy ending which the deserved.**

**I know this chapter is small. But I like to think of it as a short and sweet goodbye.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Silent Hill or anything related to it. **

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The warm rays of the summer sun blazed down through the trees, and onto Elle Holloway. She sat on an old wall waiting patiently with a suitcase. Over a year had passed since she had left Shepherd's Glen for good. She still dreamt about it some nights... the monsters, the blood and the fear. These images raced through her head every time she closed her eyes at first, but slowly at first, the images began to fade. Love, laughter and friendship were erasing them. Birds sang softly all around her. She was at the new cemetery in Brahms; it was the first time she had been in Brahms since she was let out of hospital.

A car pulled up near her. Alex Shepherd got out. They ran towards each other and embraced each other tightly (Some things never changed).

Alex looked at Elle. She was more beautiful than ever, her skin seemed to shimmer healthily. Her blue eyes shone with happiness as well as intensity. Her soft lips were open in a smile, showing her perfect white teeth. And she had gained a little weight; Alex thought that she was so thin before that he was scared he might get impaled on her hip bones when he hugged her.

Elle thought that Alex was hotter than ever as well. His handsome brown eyes had lost their emotional baggage and his lazy eye had been fixed. His tanned skin glowed warmer than ever. His sullen face had disappeared, he was now smiling radiantly. And he still had the muscles you could use to crush fruit.

"Hey Action Man. How's West Coast treating you since we last spoke?" Elle said after she kissed him casually. You wouldn't have thought from the way that they were speaking that they spoke to each other just yesterday.

"Awesome, sure I got assignments to do and stuff, but it's just the best. Parties aren't bad either. How's NYU been recently?" Alex replied.

"It's so different to Shepherd's Glen. I love it; it's so animated and full of life. And yeah the assignments can be evil but the parties are great." Elle said smiling.

They held each other's hand as they made their way through the cemetery. They had maintained a long distance relationship since they both left for University 6 months ago. After being kept apart by monsters, psycho cultists, mental hospitals and a demonic hell world, being the other side of the country was easy. They made it to the graves.

"Nora Holloway... Joshua Shepherd." Elle read the gravestones out loud. She placed flowers on Nora's grave. Alex placed flowers on Josh's grave.

"Stay safe buddy." Alex said compassionately as he took off one of his dog tags, which he never had taken off. He placed it on Josh's grave.

"You made me the happiest big sister ever." Elle said emotionally as she got out her sister's copy of "Alice in Wonderland" and placed it on her grave.

They stayed under the early morning sun for a minute. Thinking back fondly of their siblings, before they said their final goodbyes, but it wasn't really goodbye because Nora was often in Elle's dreams, saying that she wasn't lonely or unhappy, in fact she said she was the opposite. She talked about playing games with Josh, Joey and Scarlett and all her other friends. And how Wheeler sometimes came to see her. Nora also said that her parents were there, she said they were both wanted to say sorry to Elle for all they had done to her, although they didn't expect to be forgiven by her. Nora also said that Alex's parents were sorry for what they did to him. Elle told Alex about these dreams with Nora; he said that he had similar dreams with Josh in them. Together, they were finally able to forgive their parents and move on.

They then walked out of the cemetery together. The sun was shining down on them finally. The only thing they needed was each other.

"Do you have the tickets?" Alex said to Elle as he put her suitcase in the trunk of his car.

"Of course, 2 tickets to Hawaii. Can you believe it! We're can finally start visiting all these places." Elle replied eagerly.

Before Alex could reply, 2 brightly coloured butterflies danced around the air in front of them. Elle and Alex stayed silent as they watched them, before they fluttered away. Elle and Alex followed them with their eyes. The butterflies flew into the sky and disappeared for a moment. When Elle and Alex were about to leave for the airport, they saw an amazing sight. The pair of butterflies had joined hundreds and hundreds of brightly coloured butterflies fluttered past into the horizon.

They stood in awe. Then eventually got into the car and began to drive off. Soul mates, companions and star crossed young lovers. They could finally look forward to a life full of happiness and prosperity. They could look finally look forward to starting a family. They could finally look forward to a life together.

Elle Holloway. Alex Shepherd. Both had lost so much, but all they ever needed, they found.

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**The end.**

**So there it is. The end of the story. My first ever Fan Fic. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would love to know your opinion of my first fan fic as a whole. **

**P.S. I have a one-shot that's been hiding away in my documents library that's dying to come out. It's based in the same reality as this fic, it follows the dark crimes Margaret Holloway and Curtis Ackers, and it's called "The Handyman Always Rings Twice", it should be coming out soon.**


	11. Trivia and Analysis Page

**Hello guys! Here is an analysis of monsters, themes, characters and trivia that I put together. I wrote this to help me improve my skills as a writer. You don't have to read this if you don't want to, but I would love it if you did. **

**P.S. I'd like to thank everyone for reading and reviewing and favouriting this story again. And a further thank you to those who read this chapter. :)**

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_I'm starting with the themes!_

**Appearances:**

One of the main themes, if not the main one, is the theme of appearances and how they're deceptive. Very prime examples are of both their childhoods, which on to many appeared to be normal or happy, which is why no one ever discovered their abuse. Also Margaret Holloway is another textbook example, a seemingly concerned and caring lady, who is actually a cold and crazed psychopath. The final big example I could think of are Elle and Alex's physical appearances, as Elle is described as pale, thin and incredibly delicate, while Alex is described as big, strong and tough looking. So their appearances may suggest that she would be an over-emotional damsel in distress, and that he would be an emotional lacking hero with brawn and no brains, but in reality they're very similar, she is as tough, courageous and resourceful as he is, and he is as vulnerable, emotional and terrified as she is.

**Parent/Child Relationships: **

Another big theme! Basically this story gives a very cynical view of this belief, about how two children struggle to break a miserable cycle forced on them by their parents and their ancestors before them. And in breaking this cycle they realise that the only way they can move on is by forgiving the parents who caused their misery. (By though way, they're not based on my own parents in any way! I for one love my parents).

Elle and her mother: Before the fog appeared, it appears that they have a normal mother/daughter relationship, but they're some tensions underneath this, for example Elle is often angry at her mother's long absences and because her mother seems to want to steer her away from Alex when she believes that they might get together. Not to mention that Margaret is a pretty lame mother for not realising that her daughter had an eating disorder for about a year! As the story begins Elle and her mother are very distant, barely ever seeing each other, Elle is desperate to see her mother, but Margaret seems to shrug her away to continue with her "work". But later on the tatters of their relationship disintegrates, as Elle discovers that her mother has been keeping her safe for the purpose of carrying on the family and therefore carrying on the pact to the demon. She also has further revelations; that her mother killed Nora, that she knew that her father was abusing her and didn't stop it until she thought that her life may be in danger (she didn't want to lose the daughter who was carrying on the family see) and fact that she is happy for Curtis to torture, rape and murder Elle (and Alex) because she refuses to join the Order. She now sees that this woman is no longer her mother, which means that she is able to kill her in self defence.

Alex and his father: Well this is another depressing one. Alex's father wasn't just unloving to Alex since he was born; he was incredibly physically and mentally abusive to him. Alex seems to be absolutely terrified of his father (can you blame him!); he attempts to justify his father's actions (a common trait in battered children) but realises that it's hopeless. It seems his father abuse him to distance himself further from Alex, so that he will be able to sacrifice him, and also as a way to release all the anger he feels to the Order for having to sacrifice his child. Alex being an illegitimate child is also hinted at early on, which may be another reason why his father is so cruel to him. Before he dies, he tells Alex that he always wanted to love him, this is definitely open to opinion, and personally I think that, although he may have seen the error of his ways and apologise, it's very unlikely that he "always" wanted to love him (it's a cheap excuse really).

Elle and her father: Another abusive character. He is almost an enigma, a "boogieman" type character who Elle is terrified of. She has forgotten his abuse at by the beginning of the story, as some part of her buries those memories deep into her head and weaves fictitious ones instead, of the caring and loving father she had; before he turned to alcohol and she matured. By fighting him in the mines she finally realises that she was stupid for wanting to bury it forever, and by the end of the story she has gotten over her abuse at his hand, by confiding in Alex about it and by moving on.

Alex and his mother: Probably the least developed out of the 4 main parent/child relationships in this story, but I tried to show that she was desperate to love him, but had to neglect him emotionally as much as she could and not go against his father abusing him as he was going to be the sacrifice. But it's hinted in dialogue in the story that sometimes she went against her husband and acted caringly to him.

**Friendship and Love:**

The only characters who portray this theme are Alex and Elle, as it is what kept them going through their childhoods and through their drama in Silent Hill. Unlike the other 2 main themes, I try to write this optimistically, I was trying to get across that however difficult or unbearable something is, you can survive it through with deep friendship and love. Alex and Elle are obviously best friends/soul mates throughout their early childhood, they keep each other happy and safe, and bond by helping the other through their misery filled lives, because of this, there relationship is massive and has so many different layers. But even more layers are added as when they get a bit older (from about 14 onwards), when they both realise that they have deep feelings for each other. But I do my best not to portray them as a "Bella and Edward" couple who fall in love instantly and seem to spend their entire time obsessed with the other, instead their relationship is more realistic, for example it isn't love at first sight (an irritating ideal that flusters me until this day) and at first they seem distanced when they reunite, for example Alex is too determined to search for his brother, and Elle is happy to tell him how angry that makes her feel, but they soon realise that the love returns in a much greater intensity. I also tried to get across one of the things which in my opinion is the main beauty of love, that people in love put up with the faults of the other, because they know that they wouldn't want them any other way, and I hope that you can see that this is the case here.

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_Here is the symbolism of the monsters (from Elle's point of view)_

**Skinned Dogs (Feral):** The skinned dogs symbolise Elle's fear of the barriers between her and her father abusing her breaking down, this is further symbolised because this is the first monster Elle encounters and kills, showing how these barriers are beginning to break. The way the mouth is sewed shut with barbed wire, until they die, when their organs burst out of their mouth, is also symbolic, portraying Elle's eating disorder; how she would starve and starve, and then binge and purge.

**Pendulum Heads (Schism):** Just like with Alex, this symbolises the guilt Elle felt after her sister's disappearance. It also foreshadows the torture Elle and Alex would endure from her mother and Curtis.

**Mermaids (Lurker): **The mermaid symbolises restriction and submission. It represents how Elle felt powerless to fight back against her father; otherwise he would harm her sister. The mouth crammed full of spikes represents how she was unable to tell anyone what he was doing to her.

**The Miners:** The Miner symbolise Elle's fear of her father (who owned the mine). His attempts of hiding his mental instability are shown, through the fixed open eyes and smile. The short claws symbolise how he seemed friendly to passersby's, when he was actually incredibly cruel. The heavy iron helmets and heavy weights dragging behind him symbolise how he struggled with the mental strain.

**The Industrial Scorpion:** This also symbolises her father. The metallic armour symbolises how Elle built up a brittle iron shell to help herself through the abuse. The stinger and claws symbolise his aggression and cruelty. While they way it tries to crush her by smothering her with its body has undertones of rape.

**The Constricting Vines:** The vines constricting Alex and Elle is very symbolic, it represents their joint fear of being separated when they were younger, and how they were the only one that the other had to help them through their misery and despair. It also foreshadows Nora's method of murder (strangulation).

**Nurses:** Unlike with Alex, and most of the other protagonists, the nurses do not symbolise sexual anxiety/deprivation, instead they're emaciated and symbolise Elle's past eating disorder.

**Knife Limbed Creatures (Needler):** These are a manifestation of Elle's fear of Curtis Ackers. The way they crawl across the ceiling in the darkness symbolises how he used to stalk her and Alex from a distance (hence the encounter on Toluca Lake in that flashback), while the knife limbs symbolise his sadism. And the only time Elle encounters these is before she encounters Curtis in Toluca Prison.

**Multi Handed Caterpillar (Asphyxia):** This creature symbolises how Elle's mother strangled Nora, while the caterpillar like appearance symbolises the Stone Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland (Nora's favourite character from her favourite book). The way it appears to grope itself symbolises how Elle was scared that her father might try and assault Nora.

**Ape Creatures (Siam): **The way the male form attacks Elle, violently pinning her to the floor, before the female form stops him, allowing Elle to shoot him in the head, is very symbolic. Because Elle's father (male form) used to abuse her repeatedly, before her mother (female form) stepped in and "protected" Elle by shooting him in the head.

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_Now we're on to the character analysis._

**Elle Holloway:** Well I made her the main character because I think she's really under exposed, especially compared to all the other Silent Hill heroines. She doesn't have much time to have a developed personality in the game, so in many ways I had a lot more freedom writing her than I did for Alex. One of the main changes I made her was making her a lot more tough, resourceful and independent because I thought it would make her more appealing, exciting and just because I thought it would be cool. But at the same time, I gave her a lot of vulnerable moments, because she is only human, and not a 2D cut out of Rambo. I wrote her the whole eating disorder because it appeared that she protected and comforted Alex a hell of a lot, and I wanted to make him do the same to her, to really play on the fact that they needed each other equally. All the way through I described Elle as very delicate, pale, thin and pretty; to make a contrast with Alex's "Alpha-male" appearance. I also didn't want Elle to come across as some ditzy girl who uses her relationship bordering on obsession with a boy in lieu of her actually having a personality (just like Bella Swan from Twilight then!), instead I wanted her to be independent and compelling individual who just happened to be in love with a boy, for example she doesn't fall back into his arms she meets Alex, instead she is reserved and fairly cynical of him.

**Alex Shepherd:** He accompanies Elle for the majority of the story; this is because I don't think they spend much time together in the game, and because it would be pretty boring to have an entire story just with Elle walking around all alone moaning to herself. Seeing as Alex was more developed in the game, I felt I had to be more faithful with him. I wrote in many of his traits; his driving determination to search for Josh, his tendency to put others above himself and most importantly, his love for Elle. But I also managed to make a few changes to him, the largest being was making him more vulnerable and emotional, this was because it seemed the main reason people didn't like him because he wasn't scared enough by what was happening and was too adept at fighting the monsters. I think it

**Margaret Holloway:** I was quite surprised that I found her very easy to write seeing the little she is in the game is very defining of her. I kept the whole crazy order obsessed psycho throughout her appearance in the main story, but also tried to flesh her out in the flashbacks, showing that her "work" (which I kept specifically ambiguous, to make you think if she was working for the order all those years ago) caused her to have a strained relationship with Elle. I also developed her relationship with Alex a bit more, showing how she tried to become almost a surrogate mother to him, to give him the love she knew his own mother could not give him. I bet you're also wondering why it's Elle who kills her mother in this story, and not Alex like it is in the game, well I changed it because, firstly I thought it would be a very suitable way for Elle to avenge Nora and secondly because it allowed me to write deeper into her character later on in the story when she's in the hotel with Alex, showing how the guilt effects her.

**Curtis Ackers:** He is one of my favourite characters and a bit of enigma so he's very easily open to interpretation, which made him very fun to write. Well the thing I probably have to explain the most is why Curtis is sexually interested by both Elle and Alex! Well my goal for Curtis was to make him disturbing but at the same time ground him in realism, to make you readers think "Shit! There are real people like that!" So I wrote him as a textbook intense sadist, most of whom (including Curtis) have no qualms about a specific gender, as long as they can cause intense pain to their victim.

**Elle's Father:** Firstly I would like to draw attention to his lack of a proper name, this is to dehumanise him (in a way that John Steinbeck would be proud of), to symbolise how his alcohol addiction caused him to lose his previously happy life. This lack of his name also shows how Elle tried separate and distance her previously loving father from the same one who abused her.

**Travis Grady**: I intended to include Travis from the start, as I enjoyed SH:Origins and because of the cameo he made in Homecoming. At first I thought that he would appear before Elle reunites with Alex after she kills the skinned dog in Chapter 2, I intended for Travis to teach her the ropes of surviving the fog world before he disappears (he would be sent out of the fog world and back into the real world, because he had already faced his demons in the town), leaving her to fend for herself again until she encounters Alex again. But I scrapped this idea early on, and decided instead that he would drive Alex and Elle to the hospital after they return to the real world. P.S. I gave his truck the whole happy environment with pictures and children's drawings to show how he beat his demons after the events of Origins and settled down and made a happy family. (I'm a sucker for happy endings as you know)

**All The Other Characters:** Well... To be honest, these I didn't put many other people in unless I really needed to, because I didn't want to bog this fic down with scores of characters. I didn't enjoy writing Wheeler, so I kept his appearance brief, because I was so awful at writing him and I didn't want to not do him justice. Fitch, Adam Shepherd and Bartlett were easier to write but I kept them out as much as possible because the whole Order was largely unknown to Elle and Alex until towards the very end. The characters I made (Nurse, Cassie and Ryan) were also kept brief because I didn't want to focus on OC's.

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**Random Trivia:**

Alex sings "Born In The USA" in the flashback on Toluca Lake, the song is partly about a young man from a sleepy town who leaves to join the army to fight, which is ironic seeing that Alex believed that he was in the army, and not a mental hospital.

Similarly Elle mentions that she can sing "Fighter" brilliantly in the meteor shower flashback, this song is about a girl who fought her way out of abuse looking back and telling her abuser that she's not angry at him, and instead wants to thank him for making her a stronger person. This is obviously aimed at her father.

As has been mentioned by you readers before, the journal that Elle discovers in the bathroom of the jail, is written by Michael Kaufman. How it get there I'm going to leave to your interpretation. Did the town want her to see it? Was the order searching it for information? You decide.

The reference that Curtis makes to Alex during the torture scene, when he says that he wants to make him "squeal like a pig" is from the film The Deliverance like Curtis mentions. If you don't know what it means and don't want to know, I would skip the next few sentences, I've warned you. Basically in the film The Deliverance, one of the villains tells a protagonist to "squeal like a pig" before he brutally rapes him.

Butterflies are a recurring theme towards the end of the story. I'll let you formulate your own opinion as to what they symbolise, but I'll just say that many cultures see them as a sign of rebirth.

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**Thanks again for reading this. I'll keep this goodbye brief, compared to the one at the end of the chapter before! So I hope you enjoyed this entire fic, I would love to receive some of you guys opinions on it. Overall stay safe, have fun and keep reading and writing**

**Butane Koala Bear :)**


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